Name:_______________________________________

Period:_________________

Osmosislab

Introduction:
Diffusionofwateracrossamembraneiscalled
osmosis
.
Thisisakindof
passivetransport,
inwhichnoadditionalenergyisrequiredasmoleculesmove
downtheirconcentrationgradient(fromanareaofhighconcentrationtolowconcentration).

Wewilluse
dialysistubing
tosimulateacellmembrane.Dialysistubinghassmallpores(holes)
initthatallowverysmallparticlestopassthrough.Thisdialysistubingsporesarelargeenough
toletwatermoleculesthrough,buttoosmalltoallowsucrosemoleculesthrough.

Usingthedialysistubing,youwillcreatethreecells,eachofwhichwillbeplacedinabeaker;the
liquidinthebeakersimulatesanaqueousenvironmentsurroundingthecell:

cell#

solutionincell

solutioninbeaker

tapwater

tapwater

15%sucrosesolution

tapwater

tapwater

15%sucrosesolution

PreLabQuestions:
Examinetheimagetotheright.Itrepresentsacell(theroundarea
ontheright)inanaqueoussolution.Thesmallcirclesrepresent
solutemolecules.
1. Whichcase#(fromtableabove)doesthismostclosely
represent?

2. Whichwaydoyouexpectwatertoosmose(moveviaosmosis)inthisimage?Why?

Procedure:
1. Youhave3piecesofdialysistubing,eachapproximately12cminlength.
Donotletthetubingdryout.
2. Cell1:
a) Openthetubebygentlyrubbingtheopenend.
b) Fold2cmofadialysistubebackonitselfandclampit(seeimage).
c) Pour10mlof
tapwater
intothetube.
d) Squeezegentlytoremoveairfromthetube.
e) Fold2cmoftheopenendbackonitselfandclampit.
f) Brieflysetcellinto
Beaker1
(150mLtapwater)
g) Removecellandblotitdrywithpapertowels
h) Weighthecell.
i) PutcellbackintoBeaker1.
3. Cell2:
FollowsameinstructionsasforCell1EXCEPT:
a) Fillcellwith10mL
sucrosesolution
b) Putcellin
Beaker2
(150mLtapwater)
4. Cell3:
FollowsameinstructionsasforCell1EXCEPT:
a) Fillcellwith10mL
tapwater
b) Putcellin
Beaker3
(150mLsucrosesolution)
5. WIth10minutesleftinclass,removethecells,gentlyblotthemdry,andweighthem.
Recordthedatainthetablebelow.

Timeof
Timeelapsed Cell1
Cell2
Cell3
notes/
day
inbeaker
Massin
Massin
Massin
qualitative
(min)
grams
grams
grams
observations

0min

Whileyouarewaitingtotakemeasurements:
Youmaywanttousethetextbook,theprintedCK12resource,orCrashCoursetransportvideo(goto
youtube,searchCrashCoursemembranesandtransport)asreferencesasyouconsiderthesequestions.
Thiswillbegradedforcorrectness.Ifyouranswersarenotcorrectthefirsttime,youwillhavechancesto
correctthemforcredit.So
tryhard
,but
donotstress
out.

1. Writeadefinitionofosmosisandindicateifitisactiveorpassivetransport.

2. Thetermshypertonic,hypertonic,andisotonicarerelativeterms,usedtocompareone
solutiontoanothersolution.Youneedtoknowtheseterms.
Ifthesearenotalreadyinyournotes,putthemtherenow:
A
hypertonic
solutionhasahighersoluteconcentrationthananothersolution.
A
hypotonic
solutionhasalowersoluteconcentrationthananothersolution.
An
isotonic
solutionhasthesamesoluteconcentrationasanothersolution.
Completeeachofthefollowingsentenceswith
hypertonic
,
hypotonic
,or
isotonic
:

a. Cell1is_____________________________toitsenvironment(thesolutioninthebeaker),
whichis______________________________toit.

b. Cell2is_____________________________toitsenvironment(thesolutioninthebeaker),
whichis_____________________________toit.

c. Cell3is_____________________________toitsenvironment(thesolutioninthebeaker),
whichis_____________________________toit.

3. Dialysistubingisoftenusedtosimulateacellmembranewhenstudyingcellmembrane
transport.Why?(howisitagoodsimulationofacellmembrane?)

4. Dialysistubing,however,doesnotperfectlysimulatecellmembranetransport.Whatareits
limitations?(WhatarewaysitdoesNOTsimulatecellmembranetransportwell?)

5. Medicalmalpracticequestions:
a) WhatmighthappentoyourredbloodcellsifyouwereadministeredanIVbagwith
salinesolutionthatwastooconcentrated(hadtoomuchsaltinthesolution)?
Why?Includeapicturewithyourexplanation.

b) WhatmighthappentoyourredbloodcellsifyouwereadministeredanIVbagwith
distilledwater?
Why?Includeapicturewithyourexplanation.

AMENDEDGraphandDiscussion:
1. Youaregoingtomakeagraphusingdatafromanexperimentthatsatovernight.
a) ChooseSet1or2below.MakefinalreadingsbymeasuringthemassesoftheCells
andrecordtheminthetable.
b) Createonegraph(digitalorhanddrawn),showingtheresultsfromthatdataset.
Youshouldstapleittothispacket.Usegoodgraphtechnique(recallTAILS).

2. Below,write13sentencesdescribingwhatthegraphshows
(notexplainingwhyyetjustreportingwhatthedataareforeachcell).

1. RefertothePrelabquestions.Didthewaterosmose(movebyosmosis)asyouexpected?

2. Explainyourresults(whydidthecellschangethewaytheydid?).
Usethetermshypertonic,hypotonic,andisotonicinyourexplanation.

3. In45sentences:Comparethedatayoucollectedoriginallytothedatathatsatovernight.
(Consideraddressingquestionssuchasthese:Howaretheysimilar?Howarethey
different?Doyouthinkyourswouldhaveturnedoutthesameifithadsatovernight?What
doesthistellyouaboutosmosis?)

Set1
Timeof
day

Timeelapsed
inbeaker
(min)
3/4/16at
11:04am 0min
3/4/16at
11:29am 25min

Cell1
Massin
grams

25.4g

24.9g

Cell2
Massin
grams

25.3g

27.4g

Cell3
Massin
grams

26.4g

27.4g

notes/
qualitativeobservations

Timeelapsed
inbeaker
(min)
3/4/16at
2:32pm
0min
3/4/16at
2:49pm
17min

Cell1
Massin
grams

26.2g

26.2g

Cell2
Massin
grams

27.8g

29.0g

Cell3
Massin
grams

31.7g

30.4g

Cell1stayedthesame,
whichmakessense;cell2
increasedand3decreased

Set2
Timeof
day

notes/
qualitativeobservations
Cell3istheheaviest