THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE CELL MEMBRANES OF

BEETROOT CELLS
Aim: To investigate the effect of temperature on membrane permeability
Independent variable: Temperature
Dependent variable: Leakage of the pigment
Control variables: Size of the beetroot, Volume of distilled water, Time
Apparatus
1. Fresh beetroot
2. 6 test tubes
3. Test tube rack
4. Cork borer
5. White tile
6. Scalpel
7. Small beaker
8. Graduated pipette
9. Mounted needle
10. Large beaker
11. Thermometer
12. Bunsen burner
13. Tripod
14. Heat proof mat
15. Gauze
16. Cuvettes
17. Colorimeter
Method:
a

c
d
e
f
g
h
i

Results:

Collect 3 or 4 beetroot cores from a beaker. Each core should be cut into 2 cm sections
until there is enough for one core for each temperature of water bath that will be used.
The sections should be put into a test tube filled with distilled water.
The test tubes should be labeled with the different temperatures. 5 cm3 of distilled water
should be added to each test tube and the tubes should be placed, one in each water
bath, for 5 minutes to equilibrate to the temperature of the water bath.
The beetroot cores should be removed from the distilled water and blotted gently on a
paper towel.
One 2 cm beetroot core should be placed into each of the test tubes and left in the water
bath for 30 minutes each.
After 30 minutes, the test tubes should be shook gently to make sure any pigment is well
mixed into the water, and then the beetroot cores should be removed.
An observation should be made to describe the colour of each test tube. A piece of
white card behind the tubes will make this easier to see.
A colorimeter should then be used and the light transmission level should
be set
to 0% using pure water.
The coloured water from each test tube should be pipetted into a cuvette and each one
should be placed in a colorimeter.
The percentage transmission should be recorded into a table and the recordings should
be repeated to avoid any error. A graph is then made of the results from the experiment.

Temp
(C)

Observation

Colorimeter reading (% transmission

of light)
Sample A

Sample B

Sample C

Mean

clear

100

98.5

99.0

99.2

22

very pale pink

93.9

95.0

96.0

95.0

42

very pale pink

80.1

77.0

76.9

78.0

63

pink

26.3

29.9

31.0

29.1

87

dark pink

0.7

0.7

1.0

0.8

93

red

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.0

Risk Assessment:
The table on which the experiment is being carried should be cleared of all books and bags.
The test tubes should be held from the top in order to prevent burning your fingers.
Beetroot juice can stain clothing, but isnt hazardous. Lab coats can be worn to prevent any stains on
your clothes.
The test tube rack shouldnt be placed near the edges of the table to avoid accidentally knocking the
test tubes over and broken glass being all over the floor.

Evaluation:
Beetroots mostly get their purplish red colour from the pigment betalain. The pigment is contained in the
vacuole kept inside the cell by the cell membrane, which maintains the integrity of the cell. However, high

temperatures are able to damage the membrane and the relatively weak forces holding the different parts of
the polypeptide chains together are affected. This results in holes in the cell membrane, leading to some
leakage. During the experiment, the high temperatures give the betalain molecules kinetic energy, resulting
in the molecules moving more vigorously. As there is a higher concentration of betalain molecules in the
beetroot cells compared to the distilled water in the test tube, the molecules begin to move out of the cell
and into the water. At lower temperatures, around 0
22 , there wasnt as much leakage of pigment as
there was at higher temperatures around 60
. At much higher temperatures, around 100 the cell
membrane is entirely damaged and so, almost all the pigment leaks out, resulting in the water turning red
and 0.0% transmission of light. Basically, the higher the temperature, the more the leakage of the pigment
and so, the darker the colour of the water.