Title: Diffusion and Osmosis

Objectives: Before doing this laboratory you should understand:

• The mechanics of diffusion and osmosis and their importance to cells;

• The effects of solute size and concentration gradients on diffusion across
selectively permeable membranes;
• The effects of a selectively permeable membrane on diffusion and osmosis
between two solutions separated by the membrane;
• The concept of water potential;
• The relationship between solute concentration and pressure potential and the
water potential of a solution;
• The concept of molarity and its relationship to osmotic concentration.

After doing this laboratory you should be able to:

• Measure the water potential of a solution in a controlled experiment
• Determine the osmotic concentration of living tissue or an unknown solution
from experimental data;
• Describe the effects of water gain or loss in animal and plant cells
• Relate osmotic potential to solute concentration and water potential.

Hypothesis:

• Exercise A) If we suspend the bag of dialysis tubing in the solution, then we

will see a movement of molecules because the solutions will even out
through the dialysis tubing to form an equal concentration.
• Exercise B) If we suspend the bag of dialysis tubing in the water, then we will
see a positive change in mass because the water potential is more in the
beaker than it is in the bag.
• Exercise C) If we cut the potato and carry out the experiment as described,
then there will be a negative change in mass in the potato because with the
sucrose solution, the water potential is higher in the potato.
• Exercise D) If we use the formula and data provided, we can calculate the
water potential of the given information because we are given the formula
and all we have to do is apply it.
• Exercise E) If we apply a salt solution to the epidermis of an onion, then we
will see shrinkage of the cell membrane because the salt will make the
solution hypertonic.

Procedure:

• Exercise A
• 1) Obtain dialysis tubing that has been submerged in water. Tie off an end to
form a bag.
• 2) Test the solution for a presence of glucose.
• 3) Place a starch solution into the bag.
 • 4) Fill a beaker 2/3 full of water and add a solution to the water. Record the
color change of the solution and amount of glucose present.
• 5) Immerse the bag into the beaker of solution.
• 6) Wait 30 minutes or until a distinct color change has taken place in both the
bag and
solution.
• 7) Test the liquid remaining in the beaker for any presence of glucose.
• Exercise B
• 1) Obtain 6 strips of presoaked dialysis tubing.
• 2) Tie a knot in one end of each piece of tubing to form 6 bags. Fill them each
up with
different solutions.
• 3) Rinse and record weight of each bag.
• 4) Place each bag into a beaker to find the molarity of the solution in the
dialysis bags.
• 5) Now fill each beaker with 2/3 of water or enough to completely submerge
the bag.
• 6) After 30 minutes, remove bags from water and determine their mass.
• Exercise C
• 1)Slice a potato into 4 discs without skin.
• 2) Pour assigned solution into a beaker.
• 3) Measure and record the mass of the 4 discs.
• 4) Put all 4 discs into the designated solution and let sit overnight.
• 5) Remove discs. Measure and record their total mass.
• 6) Calculate percentage change from initial to final and graph data.
• Exercise D
• 1) Complete the questions on the calculations of water potential from
experiment.
• Exercise E
• 1) Prepare a wet mount slide of an epidermis of an onion. Observe and record
what you see.
• 2) Add a few drops of a salt solution across the slide. Sketch and describe the
onion cell.
• 3) Remove the cover slip and flood the onion cell with water. Observe and
describe what
• happened to the cell

Data:

Table 1.1

Solution Color Presence of Glucose

Initial Initial Final Initial Final

Contents
Bag 15% Clear Purple Yes Yes
Glucose and
1% Starch
Beaker H2O + IKI Amber Amber No Yes

Table 1.2: Dialysis Bag Results

Contents in Initial Mass Final Mass Mass Percent

Dialysis Bag Difference change in
mass

Distilled Water 26.10 26.40 0.30 1.1 %

0.2 M 20.52 21.40 0.88 4.3 %

0.4 M 26.41 28.65 2.24 8.5 %

0.6 M 25.20 28.60 3.40 13.5 %

0.8 M 26.72 29.30 2.58 9.7 %

1.0 M 29.70 34.50 4.80 16.7 %

Graph 1.1

Table 1.4: Potato Core Results

Contents in Initial Final Mass Percent

Change in
Beaker Mass Mass Difference Mass

Distilled Water 3.32 4.06 0.74 22.3

0.2 M Sucrose 3.39 3.47 0.08 2.4

0.4 M Sucrose 3.47 2.80 0.67 -19.3

0.6 M Sucrose 2.40 1.60 0.80 -33.3

0.8 M Sucrose 3.50 2.14 1.40 -38.9

1.0 M Sucrose 3.30 2.70 0.60 -18.2

 Graph 1.2

Graph 1.3

Conclusion and Results:

In this five part lab, we soaked a dialysis bag with glucose and starch in a
solution of water and iodine, we soaked a dialysis bag with different molarities of
sucrose in a beaker of water, we cut out cores of potato and soaked them in sucrose
solutions, we calculated the water potential with a given set of numbers, and we
watched onion cell plasmolysis with NaCl. My hypotheses were: If we suspend the
bag of dialysis tubing in the solution, then we will see a movement of molecules
because the solutions will even out through the dialysis tubing to form an equal
concentration, If we suspend the bag of dialysis tubing in the water, then we will see
a positive change in mass because the water potential is more in the beaker than it
is in the bag, If we cut the potato and carry out the experiment as described, then
there will be a negative change in mass in the potato because with the sucrose
solution, the water potential is higher in the potato, If we use the formula and data
provided, we can calculate the water potential of the given information because we
are given the formula and all we have to do is apply it, and If we apply a salt
solution to the epidermis of an onion, then we will see shrinkage of the cell
membrane because the salt will make the solution hypertonic. We discovered that
in Experiment A, Iodine is entering the bag and glucose in leaving the bag. We can
prove this by stating that the orange color left the beaker. Mrs. Banerjee said that
with a Benedicts test, we could have noticed glucose in the beaker of IKI and H2O.
In our tests, we noticed the orange color left the beaker and the bag turned blue.
The iodine and glucose moved so that the concentrations inside and out would be
equal. The size of the membrane pores must have restricted the movement of the
starch. We also found that the size of the molecules, starting with the smallest are,
water, then iodine, then glucose, then starch. The starch is the largest because it is
the only molecule not able to move through the bag membrane. In experiment B,
The amount of water and molarity defiantly has a concentration with movement.
The movement caused the change in mass. The higher the molarity, the more water
that moves into the bag, causes a greater change in mass. This is in general. In
experiment C, we found that the molar concentration of sucrose in the potato was
0.24 M. In experiment E, salt water makes the solution hypertonic. From this
information, we can conclude that my hypotheses were correct.

Error Analysis:

The only major error that could have occurred was that of human error.
Forgetting to dry the dialysis bag could have raised the initial or final masses in
tests. Bag leaks could have also affected the masses. Doing math incorrectly could
have screwed up the percent changes in masses. Also, incorrect microscope
operation could have skewed observations of the onion cell.