How does the mass of a potato slice change when it is put into distilled water, tap water or salt water?
Background: In this lab we will find out how water with different concentrations affects the mass of a potato slice when the slice is soaked in the water. In this lab the effects of osmosis will be seen. Potatoes cells are partially made up of water, this gives them the ability to perform osmosis. According to Purchon osmosis is when water moves through a semi-permeable membrane from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration. In osmosis water is always going in and out of the cell, but it is depending on the concentration of water in and out of the cell if there is more water going in, out or the same amount is going in and out.
According to Brown with osmosis one of three things can happen:
1) If you have a hypertonic solution the concentration of water is higher inside the cell than outside the cell and more water will be flowing out of the cell than into the cell. If the cell cannot provide enough water to balance out the concentration of water the cell will shrivel up. Eventually the cell would dry out and die.
2) If you have a hypotonic solution the concentration of water is higher outside the cell than inside the cell and more water will be flowing into the cell than out of the cell. If the solution around the cell has a to high concentration of water the cell will keep taking up more and more water to balance the water concentration. This would lead to the cell swelling up and eventually bursting.
3) If you have an isotonic solution there is an equal water concentration inside the cell and outside the cell and the water will be moving in and out of the cell at the same rate.
In this lab we will put potato slices into water with different concentrations to see the effects of osmosis. Osmosis will occur because the concentration of water is different in Potatoes as in distilled water, tap water and water with...