osmosis exp

• what is osmosis?


  the movement of water from a higher water concentration to a lower water concentration through a partially permeable membrane
• how do you carry out an investigation into osmosis using potatoe tissue?


  • cut identical potato cylinders
  • measure and record the length and mass of potatoes using ruler and balance
  • add each potato to one of thee solutions
  • 1m sugar solution
  • 0.5m sugar solution
  • distilled water
  • leave potato in tubes overnight
  • remove potato from tubes and blot them using paper towels
  • record the length and mass of each potato
  • draw graph of change in mass in grams against the concentration of solution in mol
• why is it necessary to blot the potatoes with paper after removing them?

  each potato may have a different amount of water on its surface so masses may vary

  • blotting the potatoes allows masses to be comparable