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Biology practical

The effect of osmosis on root crop vegetables

Oral instructions given by teacher: appendix 1

1. Introduction (design)

The general aim of this practical is to study the phenomenon of osmosis by using root crop
vegetables. It has been noticed that when vegetables gain or lose water (through their semi-
permeable plasma membrane) the size of them changes. So the main aim of this practical is to
figure out “will the amount of water lost by the plant, Rosamunda potato in this case, double
when NaCl concentration is increased from 1% up to 25%?” Based on knowledge gained from
the International Baccalaureate biology book it would be expected that a sample not in water is
likely lose a lot of water, since a lot will evaporate, while in pure water potato tubes are likely to
swell, because water enters their cells by osmosis (movement of water molecules across partially
permeable membrane, from a region of high concentration of water to a region of low
concentration). To clarify further, in this case of concentration of NaCl solution the samples will
either gain water or stay the same, depending on the concentration levels in vegetable it self.
With solutions of 10% and 25% a significant loss in weight could be observed since the net
movement of water could be out since there is more water inside the cells of the particular
vegetable. Also as potatoes have a partially permeable membrane, therefore holes are small
enough for only water to go through, and therefore large molecules can not pass through.

In this investigation the independent variable is the amount of NaCl added to the water. To avoid
any bias as well as assure preciseness a digital balance (+-0.01g) will be used for measuring the
amount of NaCl added. The dependent variable will be the amount of water taken in or leaving
the sample (by osmosis). Finally, the controlled variables are the temperature and size of the
samples, as well as the time spent in the solution (55 hours) and the amount of water.

2. Materials and method (design)

Equipment:

-Balance (+-0.01g)

- Cutting board

- 4 Beakers (500ml)

- Knife

- Measuring glass

Method:

The preparation for this practical involves peeling and then cutting five pieces of potatoes
(Rosamunda) for each beaker. Keeping the sizes of samples equal is important because of the
effect that surface area has and therefore preciseness will be taken care of when cutting pieces.
After this, 300 ml of water will be added into each beaker. The amount of water in each solution
will be kept constant by using a measuring glass. In order to make a solution with a
concentration of 1% NaCl, 3g of NaCl will be added and mixed until all the sugar has dissolved
into the water. The same procedure will be repeated for the other beakers except that for the 10%
solution 30g of NaCl will be added and for 25% 75g (and of course for the distilled water
nothing will be added at all). Following this all the samples will be put into the water at the same
time so that the time spent in the solution will be the same for all 5 groups of samples of
potatoes. Temperature will be kept constant by conducting the experiment in a classroom and
leaving the beakers away from the window, to guarantee that they will not be warmed up.

3. Results Appendix 2

Rosamunda potatoes: Time spent in solutions: 55 hours


Weight/g

Graph 1. Mass of the 5 potato sample groups before, and after being placed for 55 hours in
different solutions ranging from distilled water, to various NaCl concentration solutions.

4. Discussion (CE)

The results obtained after conducting the investigation agreed with the hypothesis. The potato
pieces in fact did lose most weight when they were not placed in water. This was most probably
caused by evaporation. Potatoes put in distilled water solution gained 1.88g of water. In the 1%
solution the potatoes gained 0.24g of water, while in the 10% solution the potato samples lost
2.52g of water, and finally potatoes placed in the 25% solution lost 1.32g of water. In the case of
the 10% solution where the potatoes gained the highest amount of water, more than in the 25%
concentration, either there is an error, since the change in overall mass is quite big, it might have
resulted from potato groups not being precisely of same mass or then that the concentration was
hypertonic for the potato pieces. Nevertheless, on the other hand, the percentage change between
the 10% and the 25% solution was not significant since the different between the two solutions
turned out to be only 0.04%. In addition, concerning the size of the potato samples, the size of
the initial samples were no the same and therefore in the future one way of improvement would
be more preciseness in assuring sample pieces are closer to the same size, therefore assuring that
surface area to volume ratio stays the same. One point could also be concerning the original
weights of potato sample groups, as by assuring to have the weights of sample groups more
similar in future investigations could help in order to prevent any possible biases as well. Finally
something to concentrate on in the future is the possible uncertainty of the balance used (+- 0,05)
and therefore in order to be more precise choosing a more accurate type of balance.

5. Conclusions (CE)

This practical was a convenient way of observing how cells are able to take in substances or
excreting them by applying our knowledge about osmosis. If more time was given more
variation in NaCl concentration could have been done. Looking at how another type of
vegetable would react to this could be one possibility for future studies as well.

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