NAME: Michael Timson

DATE:
FORM: L6-4
LAB: #7
SUBJECT: Biology
TEACHERS NAME: Miss Sarjeant
TITLE: WATER POTENTIAL
AIM: To determine the effect of sugar solution of varying concentrations of potato cylinders
INTRODUCTION:
Plant cells are often exposed to external solutions of concentrations that differ from
the concentration of their cytoplasm or vacuoles. This can have large effects on the cell
causing it to either gain or lose its water. This process is known as osmosis. Osmosis is
described as the spontaneous net movement of water molecules from a region of high
concentration to a region of low concentration through a partially permeable. In other words,
the water molecules move in the direction that tends to equalize the solute concentrations on
both sides. As biological membranes are semipermeable, osmosis plays a vital role in
biological systems. These membranes are impermeable to large and polar molecules, such
as ions, proteins,

and

polysaccharides,

while

being

permeable

to

non-polar

and/or hydrophobic molecules like lipids as well as to small molecules like oxygen, carbon
dioxide, nitrogen, and nitric oxide.

Water molecules travel through the plasma or cell

membrane by diffusing across the phospholipid bilayer via small transmembrane proteins
similar to those responsible for facilitated diffusion and ion channels known as aquaporin.
Osmosis provides the primary means by which water is transported into and out of cells.
Instead of concentration, the term water potential is often used as
concentration generally refers to solute. The symbol for water potential is (psi). Water
potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference

conditions and it quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another. The
water potential of a solution also measures how freely the water molecules can move and
how much pressure is being applied to it. A solution that has a high water potential is a
solution that is said to have a water and is under pressure. A solution that contains a lot of
dissolve solutes and is highly concentrated is said to have a low water potential and thus is
not under pressure. Pure water at normal atmospheric pressure has a water potential of 0 and
as more solute is dissolved, the lower the water potential. Pressure potential is based on
mechanical pressure, and is an important component of the total water potential within
plant cells. Pressure potential increases as water enters a cell. As water passes through the cell
wall and cell membrane, it increases the total amount of water present inside the cell, which
exerts an outward pressure that is opposed by the structural rigidity of the cell wall. By
creating this pressure, the plant can maintain turgor, which allows the plant to keep its
rigidity. As water leaves the cell wall and cell membrane, it decreases the total amount of
water present inside the cell and no longer exerts an outward pressure that is opposed by the
structural rigidity of the cell wall. The cell therefore loses its turgor and becomes flaccid.
The amount by which the dissolved solute lowers water potential of a solution is
known as the solute potential and is represented by the symbol s. As it lowers water
potential, solute potential is always a negative value. The more solute there is the, the more
negative the solute potential. The amount by which pressure increases the water potential of a
solution is known as the pressure potential and is represented by p. As it increases water
potential, pressure potential is always positive. The overall water potential of a solution can
calculated using the equation: = p + s

APPARATUS/MATERIALS
6 Petri dishes, 2 large potatoes, Cork bora, Stop watch, Sucrose, Distilled water, Paper
towel, graph paper, Scalpel

METHOD:
Six petri dishes were first labelled A-F. Volumes of sucrose were then added to each
boiling tube, with the exception of petri dish labelled A, and each was diluted with different
volumes of distilled water to obtain the sucrose concentration percentages 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6,
0.8 and 1.0 respectively. Using the cork bora, 30 potato cylinders were then extracted from
two large potatoes and each cylinder was then measured, using a graph paper, and cut to 5cm
in length. Five potato cylinders were then simultaneously placed into each petri dish for 30
minutes while immediately starting the stopwatch. Each petri dish was then covered using
another. After 45 minutes, the potato cylinders were simultaneously retrieved from the petri
dishes and re-measured. Their changes in length were recorded and a graph of percentage
change in length of the potato cylinders for each sucrose concentration was plotted.

RESULTS
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN LENGTH OF POTATO STRIPS IMMERSED IN
DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF SUCROSE SOLUTIONS AFTER 30 MINUTES
Concentration Of
Sucrose Soln.
(Moles/ Dm-3)

Percentage Change In Length Of 5 Potato

Average %

Strips In Each Petri Dish (%)

2
3
4

Change In Length

0.0

2.3

2.7

2.5

2.4

2.6

2.5

0.2

-1.0

0.0

0.4

-2.5

-2.3

-2.6

-2.6

-2.5

-2.5

0.6

-4.0

-5.0

-7.0

-4.0

-5.0

-5.0

0.8

-7.5

-7.0

-8.5

-7.5

-7.0

-7.5

1.0

-10.5

-11.0

-9.0

-8.0

-11.5

-10.0

DISCUSSION:
From the results obtained, it was observed that the potato cylinders placed into
solution B, composed of 0.2 mol dm-3 sucrose displayed no changes in length. This
observation thus suggest that both environments, the water potential within the potato and the
solution, were equal. This was a result of the equal net movement of water molecules into and
out of the potato tissue/cells .This meant that the osmotic potential inside the cells comprising
the plant tissues of the potato cylinders was equivalent to that of the osmotic potential of the
external environment, solution B.
The potato cylinders in solution A, unlike solution B, underwent a positive change in
length of 2.5% as displayed on the graph. This means that the potato cylinder acquired an
increase in length a result of the net movement of water from solution A, being pure water,
having the higher water potential, into the potato tissues, having the lower potential. Thus the
solute potential of solution A was lower than that of the cells. The solute potential of the
potato tissues thus had greater negative value than that of the solution.
In solutions C-F, a negative percentage change in length of the potato was obtained
indicating that the potato strip decreased in length as a result of the loss of water from within
the potato tissue. As the sucrose concentration gradually increased as displayed on the graph,
the potato length gradually decrease giving the lowest percentage increase of -10% or 10% as
the highest decrease in length. Based upon these results, the potato tissues lost water as it
possessed the higher water potential than the various solutions. This was a result of the solute
concentration being greater in the external environment and hence the freedom of the water
molecules was reduced as they are attracted to the water molecules. This imbalance then
created a water potential gradient that caused water to move from within the cells inside of
the potato cylinders into the external environment via osmosis. As a result of this, the potato
cells would have become flaccid.
Based upon the straight line graph obtained, it is seen that as the number of moles of
sucrose gradually increased, the greater the decrease in length of the potato strip. The
gradient of this graph was calculated to be 12.5. This means that the potato strip had a change
in length of 12.5% per mole dm-3 of sucrose.

Within this experiment there were various sources of errors. Different potatoes were
used in acquiring the potato cylinders and thus not all of them had the same natural water
potential thus introducing an unwanted manipulated variable. Due to the external temperature
of the experiment being above the average room temperature, it may have decreased the rate
at which osmosis would have taken placed under the 45 minute thus causing the results to be
slightly inaccurate. Before conducting the experiment, all apparatus were washed thoroughly
to ensure that there are no residue of chemicals on the apparatus when conducting the
experiment that would affect the changes in length of the potato cylinders.

CONCLUSION: Within the limits of experimental error, it can be concluded that as the water
potential of the solution decreased, there was a decrease in length of the potato cylinders as a
result of osmosis.