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    Lab - Effects of Temperature of Membrane Perm Ability

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    jahajaha_svensson609
    The document describes a lab experiment that measured the effect of temperature on membrane permeability in beetroot cells. Membrane permeability was measured using a spectrometer reading after 10 minutes at various temperatures ranging from -5°C to 70°C. The results showed that membrane permeability increased at both very high and very low temperatures compared to 40°C. This was because at low temperatures water expands and tears membranes, and at high temperatures phospholipids gain kinetic energy and spread apart. Limitations of the experiment included imprecise temperature and timing measurements.

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    Lab - Effects of Temperature of Membrane Perm Ability

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    jahajaha_svensson609
    76 views2 pages
    The document describes a lab experiment that measured the effect of temperature on membrane permeability in beetroot cells. Membrane permeability was measured using a spectrometer reading after 10 minutes at various temperatures ranging from -5°C to 70°C. The results showed that membrane permeability increased at both very high and very low temperatures compared to 40°C. This was because at low temperatures water expands and tears membranes, and at high temperatures phospholipids gain kinetic energy and spread apart. Limitations of the experiment included imprecise temperature and timing measurements.

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    Lab -Effects of Temperature of Membrane Perm Ability

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    The document describes a lab experiment that measured the effect of temperature on membrane permeability in beetroot cells. Membrane permeability was measured using a spectrometer reading after 10 minutes at various temperatures ranging from -5°C to 70°C. The results showed that membrane permeability increased at both very high and very low temperatures compared to 40°C. This was because at low temperatures water expands and tears membranes, and at high temperatures phospholipids gain kinetic energy and spread apart. Limitations of the experiment included imprecise temperature and timing measurements.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    76 views2 pages

    Lab - Effects of Temperature of Membrane Perm Ability

    Uploaded by

    jahajaha_svensson609
    The document describes a lab experiment that measured the effect of temperature on membrane permeability in beetroot cells. Membrane permeability was measured using a spectrometer reading after 10 minutes at various temperatures ranging from -5°C to 70°C. The results showed that membrane permeability increased at both very high and very low temperatures compared to 40°C. This was because at low temperatures water expands and tears membranes, and at high temperatures phospholipids gain kinetic energy and spread apart. Limitations of the experiment included imprecise temperature and timing measurements.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Nikhilesh Pradhan

    partner: Sahil Agarwal


    Ms.Illingworth

    Lab: Effects of temperature of membrane permeability

    Observations:
    Temperature(± 4˚C) spectrometer reading (after 10mins)
    70 0.62
    55 0.38
    40 0.08
    20 0.18
    10 0.21
    -5 0.48

    Analysis:

    Temperature vs. membrane premeability

    0.7
    membrane permeability (spectrometer

    0.6

    0.5
    reading)

    0.4

    0.3

    0.2

    0.1

    0
    -20 0 20 40 60 80
    temperature (± 4˚C)

    Conclusion:
    As seen in the above table, cells placed in an environment with temperatures that are higher
    or lower than the temperature to which they are accustom tend to burst more. When the
    temperature is below freezing, water expands thereby resulting in the tearing apart of the
    plasma membrane by water between the phospholipids. When the beet was placed in hot
    water, the there was an increase in the kinetic energy of the phospholipids that form the
    bilayer. This additional energy allowed the phospholipids to move apart thereby increasing
    the permeability of the membrane. From this experiment, it can be deduced that the plasma
    membrane’s natural temperature is around 40˚C.

    This lab was limited by the fact that the water temperature was measured by conventional
    thermometers which had very small gradation increasing the chances of human error. The
    prohibition of cell phones also removed the only available method of precise timing. The
    Nikhilesh Pradhan
    partner: Sahil Agarwal
    Ms.Illingworth
    analogue clock did not allow for precise timing, unless one was to watch the seconds hand
    for the required time. However, this would prevent the person from attending to other
    tasks thereby not allowing the completion of the lab within the assigned time frame. This
    situation can be resolved by the use of stop watches already belonging to the school or
    requiring groups of three with one person responsible for time-keeping.

    Possible errors could have resulted from slightly inaccurate time-keeping, as spare people
    were not available to constantly watch the clock. Also determining the exact temperature of
    the water was difficult due to small gradation on the thermometer. This may have been
    further increased as only the bottom of the thermometer was separated by the hotplate
    only by the thin bottom of the beaker. The temperature displayed by the thermometer may
    not have been the exact same as the water. Another possible error may have been our
    change in the experiment. Due to time constraints, the time given to the red-colour of the
    beet to mix with the water was brought down to 10 minutes. However, it is unlikely that this
    caused any major error as the change was brought to all the beet samples.

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