Water flows in and out of cells in an attempt to attain a state of equilibrium. The concentration of solutes to solvent in the cells environment is the cause of the water flow. Plant and animal cells can be negatively affected or positively affected due to the concentration balance in their environment. Potato cells were used to see the affects of sucrose in different concentrations. In some concentrations a weight change was seen in the potato.
IntroductionIn the osmotic concentration lab potatoes were used to see the affects of different concentrations of sucrose on the weight of the potatoes. Solanum tubersummore commonly known as the potato is the fourth most important food crop in the world. It originates from South America and is now seen all over the world in different elevations and climates. The potato is not only seen as a vegetable but as an ant famine food because of its ability to grow in harsh environments and feed many people in third world nations. Potatoes are full sucrose used for energy storage in plants.
Sucrose is a carbohydrate or sugar found in food.It’s a combination of fructose and glucose two simple sugars, making it a disaccharide. Consumers break down sucrose a disaccharide into two monosaccharide, so they can be absorbed easier and quicker into the blood. Without being broken down sucrose is too large of a molecule to diffuse through semi permeable membrane and wouldn’t be able move in and out of cells affectively.Because potatoes have sucrose inside them a concentration gradient is present and if placed in any solution osmosis movement of water through semi permeable membranes would naturally occur. If the concentration of sucrose in the solutions is less than the concentration in the potato then the potato will gain mass and vice versa.
In conducting this experiment sucrose concentrations can be used in the future to obtain a more productive potato regarding crops. Further experimentation would be needed to determine the effects.Materials & MethodsIn the osmotic lab seven cups , a marker, metric ruler, digital balance, paper towels, a knife and seven cups containing solutions 0.0, 0.
1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.
5, 0.6m of sucrose were used in the experiment. The marker was used to label the seven cups with the seven different concentrations of sucrose . A cork borer was used to cork the potato and then the metric ruler was used to measure seven 5cm long samples cut with scalpel .
The samples were weighed on the digital balance to the nearest tenths of a gram. The weight of each potato cube was recorded on table under initial weight.As each mass was taken the potato core were placed in the solutions of sucrose and stirred every 15 min where the initial mass was recorded. After letting the potatoes soak in their designated sucrose solutions from 9:28-10:36 they were removed and blotted lightly with the paper towels. The potatoes where then measured on the digital balance and the changes in weight were recorded on table under final weight. The change in weights if any was then calculated between each individual potato’s initial and final weight.
Results After we finished recording the data of the experiment it became evident that the solution of 0.3 was the osmolarity of the potato. It showed a 0 percent change in this solution.
