Investigate the Effect of Varying Solution Concentration on Osmosis in

Investigate the Effect of Varying Solution Concentration on Osmosis in a Potato ChipPredictionA definition of osmosis is the movement of wet system supply supply molecules from anarea of high urine concentration to a low water concentration across asemi-perme suitable membrane (Oxforddictionary 2000).In a high concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sugar) islow. These solutions are usually known as a deprave or weak solution.But in a low concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sugar)is high. These solutions are usually known as concentrated or strongsolutions.When a weak solution and a strong solution are separated by apartially permeable membrane, the water leave behind move from the area ofhigh concentration to the area of low until both sides are equal. Thisis osmosis, and is shown in the diagram below.Examples of osmosis can also be seen in aliveness cells. Root hairs onplants take in water from the soil via osmosis. Water continuouslymoves along the c ells of the root and up the xylem to the leaf. Wateris moving to areas of lower water concentration all the time. This isshown in the diagram below.Example of Osmosis in a Root Hair CellWhen a cell is placed in distilled water which is high waterconcentration water will move across the semi- permeable membrane intothe cell which has lower water concentration by osmosis, make thecell swell in size. The cell is now known as turgid. If a potato cellwas placed in the same circumstances the cells would profit inlength, volume and mass because of the osmotic personal effects. If the samepotato cells were placed in a solution with a low water concentration,then the effects would be the opposite - water would move out of thecell into the area of lower concentration, the water. Thus, the potatochip will decrease in length, volume and mass. In more extreme cases,the cell membrane would break away from the cell wall and the cell isthen known as plasmolysed.The higher the concentration of wat er in the external solution, thehigher the amount of water that enters the cell by osmosis. Thesmaller the concentration of water in the external solution, thehigher the amount of water that leaves the cell. However, there willbe a point where the concentrations of water inside and outside thecells are equal. This is known as the isotonic point, and at thispoint there will be no change in the length, vo... ...nger, this would have enabled me to find thesaturation point (when the potato can no longer take in any morewater) and dehydration point (when the potato cannot lose any morewater)and therefore get a more precise result.Finally, I could suck out the experiment to a more exact level bylooking at the potato cylinders under a microscope, and then I wouldbe able to see the cells in greater detail and draw some moreobservational results.Further investigations that I could carry out in the future are, victimisationa different variety of potato, for example, a king Edward ratherth an a maris piper. Also I could use a different plant tissue, forexample, a carrot or an apple. Then I could find out whether osmosisoccurs with the same patterns and trends with any vegetable.ConclusionHowever despite this, I think that the experiment I carried out,(given the apparatus I was given to carry out the test) wassuccessful, my results were consistent, and I was pleased with thecomparison of my results with my previous prediction. I followed themethod plan correctly I believe I gained accurate and sufficientenough results to conclude the experiment, and to prove my initialprediction.