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Biology Lab Report

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eskandar.kiryakos
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59 views4 pages

Biology Lab Report

Uploaded by

eskandar.kiryakos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Effect on a potato by osmosis

Background:

What is Osmosis? How does Osmosis take an effect on a potato? What is


Diffusion? Osmosis is when a substance moves or crosses through a
semipermeable membrane to balance the concentration of the water. Examples
of where osmosis takes place is when you're eating or drinking, when you
swallow the food or the water it goes to your stomach mixing with the fluid in
the stomach making what is called chyme. Diffusion is when molecules move
from low concentration to high concentration through a semipermeable
membrane.

Hypothesis:

As we add more salt to the water the higher the concentration is going to be and
more water from the potato is going to move out of it by osmosis. The lower the
salt the lower the concentration and water is going to move in the potato making
it larger and stiffer.

Variables:

Variable Type How it is controlled

Salt controlled Increased by %5 each


time
temperature independent Not controlled

Apparatus:

Apparatus Quantity Justification

Large potato 1 Is the test object


Ruler 1 To measure
Small beakers 4 To see (_____ml)
Solute (____g) For osmosis to occur
Electronic balance 1 To see the mass
Scopula 1 To transfer solids
Labels 4 To name
Squares o parafilm 4 To cover the beaker
Cork borer 1 For boring holes
Glass stirring rod 1 To stir
Graduated cylinder 1 (100ml) To measure in (ml)
Distilled water (dH2O) (______ml) To test osmosis
Weigh boat 1 T put potatoes in it
Knife 1 To slice
Pair of scissors 1 To cut

Method:

1. Label the 4 beakers with your group member’s names and the solution you
plan on placing in the beaker. 2. Using the cork borer, make 12 cylinders from
your potato, each should be 3 cm long (see Image 1). Caution: be very careful
with the cork borer and knife. Always cut away from yourself. Make sure there
is no peel left on the core. 3. Prepare the three different salt solutions, use the
mass of water & NaCl to achieve the correct solutions, be careful to make sure
that you only prepare enough of each solution for your group’s experiment. 4.
Place three cores in each of the beakers and cover them temporarily. When you
are ready, 5. remove the cores and find the mass of each group of three using
the balance. Mass all three of them together, not separately. You should mass
them to the nearest 0.1 g. Record your data in the data table. 6. Immediately
return the cores to the correct beaker and cover them with the correct solution.
7. Cover each beaker with parafilm and set them aside for 24 hours. 8. After 24
hours, remove each set of three cores from their beakers. Briefly blot them with
a 9. paper towel to remove excess water. Quickly find the mass of each group of
3 and record the mass in the data table. 10.Make observations of the texture,
colour and flexibility of the cores. Record these observations in the data table.
11.Determine he change in mass by subtracting. If the mass increased over the
24 hours, place a (+) in the data table next to the amount changed. If the mass
decreased, place a (-) in the space. 12.Make a line graph of your data. The
concentration of the salt solution is on the bottom because that is the variable
you changed in the experiment. (Note: distilled water is 0% salt/sugar solution).

Risk assessment:

Take precaution while cutting so one doesn't cut himself and be precise while
cutting the potatoes, so you don't miss a (mm). Cover the beaker with the
parafilm carefully so it does not rupture.

Results:

Beaker Solution Beginning Ending mass Change in


mass (g) (g) mass (g)
1 5% 4.27 3.85 -0.12
2 10% 4.08 3.95 -013
3 15% 4.43 4.31 -0.42
4 20% 6.36 4.01 -2.35

Analysis:

The results show that the more the salt is in the solution the less the mass of the
potato. Because there is more salt in the solution than there is in the potato and
salt absorbs water, so the potato loses its mass by increasing the amount of salt
each time.

Evaluation:

Trying to cover the beaker with the parafilm was hard and it got ruptured a little
bit while covering, I would be more careful while putting it. While cutting the
potatoes we might have missed a few (mm).

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