How changing the types of solute while maintaining a constant molar per liter concentration affect the rate

of osmosis through an apple medium?

Osmosis is defined as the passive movement of water molecules, across a partially permeable membrane from a region of lower solute concentrates solution to higher concentrate solution. The more concentrated a solution is, the more restricted water molecules are. And as a result solutes of high concentration are slow and are almost stationary. Meanwhile in pure water all water molecules are free t move about randomly, and do so. When two solutions are separated by a membrane permeable to water molecules and one of the solutions is of high concentration the other of low. Water molecules in low concentration are free to move and will diffuse meanwhile the high concentration solutions molecules move very little. As a result there is will be a net flow of water, from the dilute solution to the concentrated solution.

Prediction
Osmosis is primarily affected by the concentration gradient if a permeable membrane is present. If concentration of solute and size of apple is kept at a constant then change in the rate of osmosis will be affected by the independent variable. Bigger molecules will exert more pressure on the water molecules causing the water molecules to move through the semi permeable membrane faster, and as result increase the rate of osmosis.

Variables
Independent Variables: Sugar concentration and water volume: The concentration of sugar in the solute will be kept at a constant level of 1 molar liter. This is kept constant as the change in concentration will affect osmosis speeding up the diffusion of water and as a result providing incorrect results. Temperature of Solute: The ambient temperature will be kept constant at 27 degrees Celsius this will insure that the solutes temperature remains at a

constant temperature. Changes in temperature affect the solubility of sugars which can affect the rate of osmosis and as a result will be kept at a constant temperature. Size of the apple medium: The volume of the apple will remain constant at 1*1*1 (width, height and length). An increase in volume of the medium will make sugar intake slower as the there will a bigger volume for the water to diffuse into and if a smaller volume occurs it will increase the rate of osmosis skewing the results. Time spent by the medium in the solute: The period of time in which the slice of apple will be placed in shall remain constant at 60 minutes exactly. This has to remain constant as the osmosis is very time dependant and an increase in the time period will increase the rate of osmosis greatly. Also the time period allows the osmosis reaction to reach a balance perfectly between the medium and the solute. The apple when measured will be kept dry before and after measuring as to insure that moisture from the apple will not affect the before weight. As the residual water from being in the solute, the apple can affect the post osmosis weight of the apple. Dependent Variables will the types of sugar used, of the apple which are the following; i. Lactose ii. Glucose iii. Fructose These sugars vary in size and as a result their behavior will change in relation to osmosis.

Equipment:
Twelve 1000ml beakers that were filled with measuring cylinders that have a tolerance of 1ml

One scale with a 0.05gram error margin

One stopwatch with a 0.05 second error margin

Molar masses of Lactose, Glucose and Fructose which were 342.3, 180.1 and 180.1 grams of each.

Method
1.) The temperature of the lab will be changed by closing the AC and keeping all the windows and shutters closed. And these conditions will not be changed throughout the experiment. 2.) A piece of apple with the dimensions of 1*1*1 (width, height and length)

will be cut and dried with a paper towel. This size was very difficult to achieve during the experiment and percentage change during osmosis was measured instead.
3.) A solute of 1000ml of water will be placed in a beaker with a mole of the sugar respective of which sugar is being measured during the experiment. Initially the sugar was to be dissolved in warm water yet constant stirring proved successful. 4.) The apple weight will be measured before placing the apple into solute 5.) The apple will be placed into the solute and not moved for a period of 60 minutes. 6.) After 60 minutes the apple will be dried of all surface water and weighed. 7.) This will be repeated 4 times for every sugar, with the exact conditions as written above.

Data

Raw Data

Change of apple mass due to osmosis ater a period of one hour Percentage Weight Before Weight After Change(0.05g (0.05g) (0.05g) ) Lactose Trials 1 2.50 2.70 8.00 2 2.30 2.50 8.70 3 2.10 2.30 9.52

4 Trials 1 2 3 4 Trials 1 2 3 4 Processed Data Sugar Lactos e Glucos e Fructo se Avg. Percentage Change(0.05g)

1.90 Glucose 2.10 2.00 1.80 1.80 Fructose 2.20 2.40 1.80 1.80

2.10

10.53

2.30 2.20 1.80 2.00

9.52 10.00 8.40 11.11

2.40 2.70 2.00 2.00

9.09 12.50 11.11 11.11

Range(0. 05g) 2.53 2.71 3.41

Standard Deviation 1.09 1.12 1.40

9.19 9.76 10.95

Evaluation:
The major issue I faced is cutting the apple into a slice with my original measurements 1*1*1 (width, height and length) as these exact measurements

proved to be very difficult in the lab. In the future I believe a cutter mold should be used to provide a uniform size and volume. As the experiments time period was for an extended period of time (60 minutes) the solute would sink to the bottom and was not mixed thoroughly mixed by the end of the experiment. This problem could be easily counteracted by placing an automatic stirrer into the beaker that would ensure that the solute remains properly in suspension throughout the experiment. Another issue I faced during the practical was that apples float in water and as a result only three sides out of four were exposed to the solution leaving one side exposed to the air and not reacting with the solution. This lead to decreased rates of osmosis, however, as all the slices went through the same conditions the results remained valid for the experiment. Nonetheless in the future I believe there are three strategies that can be used I. Another medium should be used instead, one which does not float in water. II. A different type of apples should be investigated which do not float in water. III. Using a weighting mechanism to stabilize the apple medium and keep it stabilized throughout the experiment.

Conclusion
Lactose is a more complex sugar a disaccharide sugar that is found most notably in milk and is formed from galactose and glucose. Glucose is the simplest sugar out of the three used, it is a simple monosaccharide and is a vital fuel in biology It is used as an energy source in most organisms, from bacteria to humans.

Fructose is a simple sugar, a monosaccharide and is present naturally in plants, honey and various berries. Out the three the biggest molecule is lactose with a mole being composed of 342.30 grams yet it had the slowest osmosis rate of all three sugars with a 9.19% increase of mass of the apple. This was surprising as it is a disaccharide and would result in an increased rate of osmosis through the apple medium. As large molecules would have placed more pressure on the water molecules causing an increased rate of osmosis. And this has led me to believe that molecule size does not affect the rate of osmosis or at the very least the time period is too long for a change to have been noticed in my time frame of 60 minutes. The highest rates of osmosis were from the monosaccharides glucose and fructose which are very similar molecularly with both sharing the molecular formula C6H12O but are isomers of each other which means that they only differ in the three-dimensional orientations of their atoms. Nonetheless Fructose had the highest rate of osmosis with a 10.95% increase of mass. Glucose came second with 9.76% increase in volume. Yet the error bars from glucose and fructose break into each other and it can be concluded that glucose and fructose solutes have a very similar rate of osmosis, especially as they share the molecular formula C6H12O. The size of the range in the results corresponds to which sugars had a faster rate of osmosis. This can be a byproduct of the speed of the fastest sugars rate of osmosis. Another correlation I have noticed in my research of the sugars that I experimented was that the sugars speed in osmosis corresponded to their perceived sweetness. This is inconclusive and I believe that more research on the rate of osmosis regarding different sugars. Similar to the experiment completed on lactose, glucose and fructose where a medium is placed in a molar solution and the percentage change of the volume of a medium to measured and calculated. To correctly prove and ascertain if this correlation is conclusive and correct.