Testing Osmosis From a Sugar Solution to a Potato

Testing Osmosis From a Sugar Solution to a Potato

Introduction:

Osmosis is the passage of water molecules from a weaker solution into

a stronger solution through a partially permeable membrane.

In this case, Osmosis applies to our practical because we are trying

to see if a sugared solution has an effect on potatoes.

Prediction:

I predict that the higher the sugar concentration, water will transfer

from the potato into the sugared solution making the potato decrease

in weight, and vice versa for a lower sugar concentrations. I believe

this will happen because since the solution is diluted with water, the

water molecules will transfer over to the stronger solution. Thus

occurring osmosis.

Procedure:

For this experiment, I will cork a potato, cut it to size and dry it.

The potato bits will be weighed and placed in different concentrations

of sugar solutions. I will wait a minimum of thirty minutes, then take

the potato pieces out and weigh them again. The results will be

recorded.

Preliminary Work:

The preliminary work was done for several reasons, but mainly to test

if the experiment would actually work. My first results table was an

absolute mess…so the preliminary work made me realize that I needed to

be more organized and tidier. In addition, there seemed to be too big

of a gap in the numbers. The weight for each test was a few grams off

which told me to weigh and dry the potato more accurately. In the

preliminary testing, I decided to use 50 ml of solution, but I had to

change it to 25ml in the real experiment because 50 ml did not fit

into the test tubes. Additionally, instead of using six beakers, I

used six test tubes instead. The beakers were unnecessary and of no

use to this particular experiment. Otherwise, none of the other

apparatus had to be changed. In addition, in the preliminary work, I

started taking notes, which were of no use to me in the end. The

preliminary work helped me sort unorganised pieces of work and it