Dhara Patel

Osmosis
Conclusion: The aim modelled the movement of water in living cells very
well. The cellulose bag represented cell membrane. The starch solution
represented cytoplasm and from the observations it can be concluded that
water enters living cells by the process of osmosis.
Discussion: Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of higher
concentration to an area of lower concentration. The diffusion of water
into and out of a selectively permeable membrane is called osmosis.
Because of the selectively permeable membrane, only water and very
small particles can be diffused through osmosis. The cell membrane is
similar to the dialysis tubing, so the cell would lose water because of
osmosis if it were placed in an environment in which water concentration
is greater than that of the cell. The solution in the dialysis tubing had a
higher concentration of solutes than the distilled H2O/ iodine solution. The
beaker represented a hypotonic solution, one in which the concentration
of dissolved substances is lower than the concentration inside the dialysis
tubing. Osmosis caused water to move through the dialysis tubing and
into the bag. The dialysis bag represented a hypertonic solution, one in
which the concentration of dissolved substances is greater than the
concentration outside the bag. Osmosis caused the glucose to move
through the dialysis tubing and into the beaker.

Diffusion
Conclusion: When the straw was pulled out of the water, the chemical
slowly spread across (diffused). The diffusion was influenced by the
difference in concentration gradient between the bottom part of the
beaker and the top part of the beaker. At the bottom where there was high
solute concentration, particles started to move to the top where there was
low solute concentration.
Discussion: Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of higher
concentration to an area of lower concentration. This experiment was
reliable as it demonstrated diffusion by the chemical slowly spreading
from an area of lower concentration to an area of higher concentration.
Time was a limitation in this experiment. Due to time, the experiment
could not have been repeated more than once. An improvement could
have been to test the diffusion in hot water and cold water to see what
happens when there is higher kinetic energy in hot water. All safety
precautions were taken into consideration and no one was harmed in any
way.

Dhara Patel