Lab Report:Research question:- To see the effects of different

concentration of ethanol solution on osmosis in

potato cylinders.
BackgroundInformationandHypothesis: Osmosis is the
movement of water through a selectively permeable membrane,
from a solution of higher water potential to a solution of lower
water potential. It provides the primary means by which water is
transported into and out of cells. I predicted that all the potato
cylinders in the pure distilled water and lower concentration will
swell, hence they will have an increase in mass because because
water enters the cell through osmosis. The potato cylinders with
high concentration will shrink, hence show a decrease in masss
because water leaves their cell through osmosis.
Variables:- In the investigation, we change the concentration of
ethanol solution from 0%(pure distilled water) to 0.2%, 0.4%,
0.6% and 0.8% and 1%. The dependent variable is the change in
mass and length of the potato cylinders. The controlled variables
were the size of the potato, time spent in the solution and
amount of solution.
Materials Required:- Potatoes, ethanol solutions of different
solutions , cork borer, test tubes, test tube rack , scalpel, stopwatch,
Measuring cylinder , distilled water, electronic balance, marker, clear
ruler

Procedure:1. Using a marker, label the six test tubes with

the following solution types (Distilled water ,.2,
.4, .6, .8, 1.0). in the respective order.
2. Place approximately 50 ml of the various
solutions, each test tube receiving a separate
solution.

3. Obtain 15 potato cylinders (approximately)

using a cork borer and cut them to equal sizes
(about 3.5 cm). All the cores must be of the
same length
4. Using the electronic balance and plastic
weighing tray mass (weigh) each group of
potato cores and record the data in a table
5. Place about 2 potato cylinders in each test
tube and cover the test tube rack, which now
has the test tubes of different concentrations
with 2 potato cylinders in each.
8. 24 hours later measure the length and mass of
the potato cylinders. To do this the solution
has to be removed and the cylinders are taken
out with a pair of tweezers.
9. Finally measure the potato cylinders and
record its weight using the electronic balance.

QualitativeData: