Osmosis And Diffusion Lab Report

Name: Miranda West BIO 1120L Section: 11 Sept. 21, 2016

OSMOSIS AND DIFFUSION

Introduction:
Everything in life is made up of molecules. Molecules are the smallest particle in a chemical element or compound. Molecules have the tendency to move from regions that have a high concentration of molecules, to an area that has less concentration. This movement can be characterized in two different ways; diffusion and osmosis. Diffusion is when molecules move down a concentration gradient while osmosis is when the molecule moving down the concentration gradient is water. When one solution has a lower concentration of solutes the then other, the solution is hypotonic. If the solution has a higher concentration of solutes relative to another, it is

The issues that may have warped the results are that the potatoes could have been cut either too small or too big. We also had to use a little more of the glucose solution in some of the beakers to make sure that the potatoes were completely submerged. It does seem that most of the potatoes became more hypotonic with the exception of the potatoes that were emerged into the "0" and "0.2" solutions. They were both hypertonic. This may have been the result of the inaccuracies that may have had with the

With the first step, we were able to see osmosis happen when the solution passed through the membrane, and changed the color of the solution within the tube. We see the same process with the potatoes when the molecules from the potato (the starch), went to the area that had a lower concentration.

I feel as though both of these tests would be fine to test the process of diffusion and osmosis, however, I feel that there could be better ways to ensure a more accurate results. Making sure that the potatoes started at the same weight, and making sure that they were cut exactly in half, would help make sure that the results would not be skewed. I also think that maybe using a different tubing or other semipermeable membrane for the first test, would help make sure that there would be no issues with leaking, or solution entering into the beaker.

Table 2.1. The weights of five potato samples exposed to solutions with different molar concentrations of glucose.
Glucose Initial Weight (g)/Time Final Weight/Time Percent