Osmosis in a Potato

Osmosis in a Potato

My main aim in this experiment is to find out if osmosis occurs in a

potato, and how it affects the potato in different molar solutions of

sugar and water.

Factors

* Type of cell

* Different solutions

* Concentration of solution

* Time cells are in solution

* Mass of cells

* Surface area of cells

* Temperature of solution

Prediction

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

a stronger solution, through a partially permeable membrane. In the

distilled water, I believe that the water is more concentrated in the

potato, and therefore the water should transfer from the water to the

potato, making the potato bigger in size, and heavier in mass. The

potato tissues, being surrounded by a weak solution, will be most

likely to swell up and become turgid, taking in all the water it can

possibly take in.

With the potato in 5% solution of sugar, I don't think there will be

much change in the mass of the potato. This is because there isn't

much difference between the two substances. I believe that the mass

and the size of the potato won't be altered much.

In the 20% molar solution of sugar, I think, there should be a big

difference, noting that it should be a large difference between the

two concentration gradients. And there fore the mass should decrease.

Method

The investigation is very straightforward.

There won't be any control for this experiment, because the weight

would vary depending on the potato pieces. And therefore, it might

affect the results, which we are going to take in after the

experiment.

First I will have to get the pieces of potatoes ready. I will push the

cork borer through the potato, cutting it into long cylinders with a

diameter of 6mm. And then I will cut the potatoes into cylinders of