The Concentration of Sugar in the Cell Sap of a Potato Cell's Vacuole

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The Concentration of Sugar in the Cell Sap of a Potato Cell's Vacuole Plan

In this experiment I am intending to investigate the concentration of

sugar in the cell sap of a potato-cell's vacuole. I will discover this

using my knowledge of the biological process of Osmosis.

Osmosis is the movement of solvent (usually water) through a

semi-permeable membrane separating solutions of different

concentrations. The solvent passes from a more concentrated solution

to a less concentrated solution until the two concentrations are

equal.

Many cell membranes behave as semi-permeable membranes, and osmosis is

a vital mechanism in the transport of fluids in all living organisms,

the transport of water from the roots up the stems of plants is just

one of these.

[IMAGE]

Apparatus

[IMAGE]For this experiment I will need the following apparatus:

1. One large potato,

2. [IMAGE]Five glass beakers,

3. One measuring cylinder (50ml),

4. One potato corer,

5. [IMAGE]One dissection tile,

6. One scalpel,

7. One measuring scale (2dp)

8. [IMAGE]Ruler (1dp).

To discover the concentration of sugar in the cell sap I will place a

piece of potato, exactly 2.5cm in length, in a beaker of salt solution

(varying in strength) and leave it for 24 hours. If the piece of

potato increases in weight, the concentration of water in the solution

is too low, therein, if it decreases in weight the concentration of

water in the solution is too high. But if there is no change in weight

whatsoever then the concentration of water in the solution ...

... middle of paper ...

... weight because there is a high difference between the concentration of

water inside the cell and the concentration outside the cell.

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I believe the potato will greatly decrease in weight because water is

now at a much higher concentration inside the cell than outside.

Therefore, due to Osmosis, the water molecules will move from where

they are in high concentration to where they are in low concentration:

leaving the cells and entering the solution.

Collection of Results

To be sure that my results are collected and recorded in the correct

manner, one which is easy to both understand and compare, I have

constructed four results tables which can be seen overleaf. I have

crated a separate table for every experiment and one in which I can

record the average result of each aspect of those experiments.

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