Osmosis Essay

This is an example of a hypertonic solution as the potato loses its water due to the process of osmosis. The difference in concentration is one main factor that affected the rate of osmosis, resulting in more or less mass being gained/lost. The larger the gradient, the more mass is gained (or lost), explaining the larger magnitude in percent change of the masses of the potatoes collected. Possible sources of errors affect the accuracy of the results in the experiment as the calculations of the data fluctuates. This further affects the conclusion drawn from the lab. One possible source of error created during this lab is the initial mass of the potato slices. Although the initial mass of the potatoes were precisely cut and measured possible errors can be taken into consideration. The slight variation…

1959702695 Osmosis is a type of facilitated diffusion where water molecules move from high concentrations of water to low concentrations of water through a selectively permeable membrane. Osmosis is a way for water molecules to create equilibrium between a cell and its environment. For example, if the cell is a hypotonic solution and its environment is a hypertonic solution, then water will naturally diffuse to its environment to create equilibrium. The guiding question for this experiment was,…

Objective: The objective of this lab is to show how diffusion occurs with different types of osmosis. This is done with varying concentrations of solute. Introduction: To fully understand this experiment you should have a solid basis of background information on a few a topics. The cell membrane, for example, is the flexible barrier which surrounds the cell (see Figure 1). This organelle controls what is able to enter and exit the cell, which is known as selective permeability. The…

Introduction: All living organisms require the process of osmosis in order to live. When there is a semi-permeable membrane separating differing parts of an aqueous solution, the fluid will flow from the section with the higher osmotic pressure to the section with the lower osmotic pressure (HammelSchlege2005). This happens because the solute molecules diffuse toward the fluid with a lower concentration and the solute molecules drag the water through which they diffuse (HammelSchlege2005). This…

Observing Osmosis INTRODUCTION Osmosis is the “diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane” (Raven et al. G-16). In this experiment, dialysis tubing was used to mimic the selectively permeable membrane to show what osmosis does when placed in different solutes. We filled dialysis tubes fill with different percentages of solute and placed them in beakers full of a different solute. Through this experiment, I saw what happens when the solution becomes hypertonic, hypotonic, and…

The cell has several different ways that it allows molecules and ions to cross its membrane, including bulk transport, osmosis, passive transport, and active transport. The purpose of the cell membrane is to protect the cell and only allow specific substances to cross the membrane, such as amino acids or water. Lipids hold the membrane together, along with proteins and carbohydrates. These lipids are saturated or unsaturated, and have a hydrophilic head. The tails hold the membrane together due…

osmosis is when water diffuses across a semipermeable membrane. Osmosis happens in order to balance the concentration of solutions on either side of the membrane. An example of osmosis can be observed by placing a red blood cell into a solution. if the concentration of the solution the red blood cell is placed into has a higher concentration the water from the inside of the cell will move out. The water moves out of the cell in order to dilute the solution making it less concentrated. …

Different types of solutes do have an effect on the rate of osmosis in potatoes. For each of the following solutes used: salt, sugar, baking soda, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and tap water with no solute, the percent change of mass at the end were different. The solute with the highest percent change in mass was salt, followed by baking soda and sugar. This is due to the difference in the amount of solute in the solution and potato strip. The initial hypothesis was incorrect as the potato strip in…

The rate of osmosis is affected by temperature. Contrary to the results obtained in this lab, warmer temperatures speed up the rate of osmosis. In our lab, our results showed that the room temperature water was the optimal temperature for osmosis, followed by cold water, then the hot water. The prune in Beaker A, the control group and room temperature water, increased in weight approximately 110%, from an original weight of 6.8 grams. The water in Beaker A also remained the most consistent in…

Concentration Gradient effects the rate of Osmosis in Artificial Cells. During our biology lab we learned all about cells, and to further our understanding we even conducted an experiment with an artificial cell. To start the lesson, we learned the difference between diffusion and osmosis, how concentration gradients affect both. Also how the cell membrane works, how tonicity affects plant and animal cells differently, how dialysis tubing works, and how it acts like a living cell. By the end of…