Diffusion Of Agar Cubes Lab Report

The purpose of the experiment was to measure the amount of diffusion that has occurred over three minutes and examine the effect of the surface area to volume ratio using of agar cubes which were infused with phenolphthalein as an indicator that the acid had diffused. Diffusion is a significant process by which substances such as nutrients, water, oxygen, and cellular wasted are transported between living cells and their environment. The four different sized agar cubes (0.5cm, 1cm, 2cm, 3cm) were placed in the Hydrochloric acid for three minutes and, the percentage difference of diffusion was calculated by calculating finding the percentage difference between the initial and final volume. The hypothesis submitted was:It was initially hypothesised that: as the surface area and volume ratio of the cell decreases, the percentage difference decreases. This is because the larger the cube, the more area there is for the acid to diffuse into. As the SA:V ratio decrease with the surface area of the cube, the percentage difference decreases. …show more content…
Percentage difference decreases with SA: V ratio as the size of the cube increases, this correlation is referred to in the graph. The SA: V ratio of the 1.6cm2 cube is 8.3, with a percentage difference of 99%, whereas the 52.8cm2 cube has a ratio of 1.9 and a percentage difference of 32%. These results support the hypothesis and that the smallest cube had the most amount of diffusion in the 3 minutes. The diffusion that occurred in the experiment was passive transport (biologycorner, 2016.), which involves molecules moving from a high to low concentration down a gradient. In any type of diffusion, each type of molecule moves along its own