Purpose
The purpose for performing part III of the lab was to investigate and compare the water potentials of different types of plants; namely, tubers (potatoes and yams) and non-tuber fruits (apples). To determine the water potentials, our focus during the lab was to collect data for osmosis rates in different sucrose concentrations.
Background Information
Now that we have discussed osmosis and free water, we can introduce the idea of water potential to mathematically represent concentration gradients. In cells, we must consider the effect of pressure on osmosis. Plant cells have cell walls that will cause pressure to build up when water diffuses into the cell. Both the osmotic pressure and the solute concentration must be taken into account.
Water potential is measured in bars and is represented by the Greek letter …show more content…
If the solution is in an open container, Ψp is 0, so the water potential of the solution equals its solute potential. This equation will be used in the results section where we calculate the water potential of 3 plant species using the above methods. Variables
The independent variables were the type of plant used (apple, potato, or yam) and the concentration of the sucrose solution. The overarching independent variable was the type of plant. The solute concentration was just used to find the numerical relationship between concentration and % change in mass, which we could use to calculate water potential.
The dependent variable was the % change in mass of the tubers for each plant type. We could then use these to calculate the water potentials, which were dependent on the plant type as well.
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that the tubers (potato and yam) will have higher water potentials than the non-tuber fruit (apple)
The purpose for performing part III of the lab was to investigate and compare the water potentials of different types of plants; namely, tubers (potatoes and yams) and non-tuber fruits (apples). To determine the water potentials, our focus during the lab was to collect data for osmosis rates in different sucrose concentrations.
Background Information
Now that we have discussed osmosis and free water, we can introduce the idea of water potential to mathematically represent concentration gradients. In cells, we must consider the effect of pressure on osmosis. Plant cells have cell walls that will cause pressure to build up when water diffuses into the cell. Both the osmotic pressure and the solute concentration must be taken into account.
Water potential is measured in bars and is represented by the Greek letter …show more content…
If the solution is in an open container, Ψp is 0, so the water potential of the solution equals its solute potential. This equation will be used in the results section where we calculate the water potential of 3 plant species using the above methods. Variables
The independent variables were the type of plant used (apple, potato, or yam) and the concentration of the sucrose solution. The overarching independent variable was the type of plant. The solute concentration was just used to find the numerical relationship between concentration and % change in mass, which we could use to calculate water potential.
The dependent variable was the % change in mass of the tubers for each plant type. We could then use these to calculate the water potentials, which were dependent on the plant type as well.
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that the tubers (potato and yam) will have higher water potentials than the non-tuber fruit (apple)