Introduction
Homeostasis is the state of a stable internal cell environment. If the cell is not in a state of homeostasis, then the cell will not be able to live and function properly. The plasma membrane is selectively permeable and controls what molecules enter and exit the cell. The plasma membrane keeps the environment inside the cell relatively stable which is the state of homeostasis. The goal of this investigation is to see if the size of the cell is affected when the cells are put in different solutions of alcohol and water. The guiding question is “how does alcohol affect the size of cells?”. If alcohol affects the size of the cell then it will not be in a state of homeostasis. The only way that alcohol could affect the size of …show more content…
The graph above compares the difference between the starting mass of the cell and the final mass of the cell for all the different concentrations of alcohol. The graph shows a control which has no significant change in mass. As the alcohol concentration increases along the x axis, the weight of the cell decreases along the y axis. Alcohol in this experiment is the solute and water is the solvent. Lets just take the 50% alcohol solution for example. The water inside the cell is hypotonic because it has less of the solute (alcohol). The solution in the cell's environment has a higher concentration than the inside of the cell which means that is hypertonic. This means that diffusion of water (osmosis) will occur. The water inside the cell would diffuse to the outside of the cell when there is a higher concentration of alcohol because there is a lower concentration of water outside the cell. The water would diffuse because water diffuses from areas of high concentration to an area of low concentration until it become an equilibrium (also known as an isotonic state). Water is moving outside of the cell and the cell is decreasing in mass which means the cell is dehydrated. All of the other groups claims said that the higher the percentage of alcohol, the less mass the cell will have. These claims were all agreeing with this groups claim. This occurred because all of our evidence was
Homeostasis is the state of a stable internal cell environment. If the cell is not in a state of homeostasis, then the cell will not be able to live and function properly. The plasma membrane is selectively permeable and controls what molecules enter and exit the cell. The plasma membrane keeps the environment inside the cell relatively stable which is the state of homeostasis. The goal of this investigation is to see if the size of the cell is affected when the cells are put in different solutions of alcohol and water. The guiding question is “how does alcohol affect the size of cells?”. If alcohol affects the size of the cell then it will not be in a state of homeostasis. The only way that alcohol could affect the size of …show more content…
The graph above compares the difference between the starting mass of the cell and the final mass of the cell for all the different concentrations of alcohol. The graph shows a control which has no significant change in mass. As the alcohol concentration increases along the x axis, the weight of the cell decreases along the y axis. Alcohol in this experiment is the solute and water is the solvent. Lets just take the 50% alcohol solution for example. The water inside the cell is hypotonic because it has less of the solute (alcohol). The solution in the cell's environment has a higher concentration than the inside of the cell which means that is hypertonic. This means that diffusion of water (osmosis) will occur. The water inside the cell would diffuse to the outside of the cell when there is a higher concentration of alcohol because there is a lower concentration of water outside the cell. The water would diffuse because water diffuses from areas of high concentration to an area of low concentration until it become an equilibrium (also known as an isotonic state). Water is moving outside of the cell and the cell is decreasing in mass which means the cell is dehydrated. All of the other groups claims said that the higher the percentage of alcohol, the less mass the cell will have. These claims were all agreeing with this groups claim. This occurred because all of our evidence was