Title: Osmosis and Diffusion Lab Introduction: Diffusion is the passive movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration

of these molecules to an area of lower concentration. Eventually, once a dynamic equilibrium is reached, there will be no net movement from one area to the other. The diffusion of water through a selectively permeable membrane is osmosis. Water moves from a region of higher concentration of water to a region of lower water concentration. This is also known as movement from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential. The purpose of this lab is to examine diffusion, osmosis, and water potential. Hypothesis: Lab A: The diffusion of small molecules through dialysis tubing, a selectively permeable membrane, will be measured. If glucose and starch are placed in a cell (dialysis bag) into water, then only the glucose molecules will be able to pass through the membrane because those molecules are smaller than starch. Lab B: The movement of water in and out of potato cores will be examined. The potato cores placed in varying concentrations of sucrose solutions will have different percent changes in mass depending on the water potential and water concentration. Lab C: The effect of placing a living cell into a solution that has a lower or higher concentration of water than the cell will be examined. If the wet mounted onion cells are flushed with sodium chloride solution, then the cell will lose water because water will move from inside the cell into the salt solution to reach equilibrium. Materials: Lab A: The materials needed are 30 cm piece of 2.5cm dialysis tubing (soaked in water), Iodine Potassium Iodide (IKI) solution, 15% glucose/ 1% starch solution, glucose test strip, distilled water, and a 250ml beaker. Lab B: Potatoes, a knife, six different sucrose solutions of 0.0M, 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, and 1.0M, six cups, plastic wrap, and a scale are needed. Lab C: A microscope slide, cover slip, onion cells, KimWipes, light microscope, dH2O, and 15% NaCl solution are needed. Procedure: Lab A: Used a 30cm piece of 2.5cm dialysis tubing that has been soaking in water and tied off one end of the tubing to form a bag. A sample of 15% glucose/1% starch solution was tested for the presence of glucose using a glucose test strip. Then a second sample of the same solution was tested for starch using IKI. The results for glucose and starch were recorded. 15ml of the 15%

glucose/1% starch solution was poured into the dialysis tubing bag. Then the other end of the bag was tied off, leaving sufficient space for expansion of the bag. The color of the contents was recorded. A 250ml beaker was filled two-thirds full of water and 4ml of IKI was added. Starch and glucose of the water in the beaker were tests for and recorded. The dialysis bag was immersed in the beaker of IKI solution and left overnight. The final color and presence of glucose and starch of the solution in the bag and in the beaker were recorded the next day. Lab B: Sucrose solutions of 0.0M, 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, and 1.0M were prepared. About 100ml of each solution was poured into a cup. A potato was sliced into small cubes without skin. Four potato cores for each cup were weighed before being placed in their sugar solution cups. Each beaker was covered with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and left overnight. The next day, the cores were removed from each beaker, blotted gently on a paper towel, and their each beakers potato cores masses were weighed. The percent change in mass of the cores were calculated and recorded. Lab C: A wet mount of onion epidermis cells were prepared. The cells were examined under a light microscope. Then 2 drops of 15% NaCl was added to one edge of the cover slip. By touching a KimWipe to the opposite edge of the cover slip, the salt solution was drawn across the slide. After the salt solution test, the cover slip was removed and the cells were flooded with fresh water. Results: Lab A: Initial Observations and Predictions
Initial Contents Initial Color of Solution Predicted Final color of Solution Initial Presence of Glucose Predicted Final Presence of Glucose Initial Presence of Starch Predicted Final Presence of Starch

Bag Beaker

15% glucose 1% starch H2O & IKI

clear Brown with chunks

Blue Clear brown

Yes No

Yes Yes

Yes No

Yes No

Lab A: Experimental Observations

Initial Contents Initial Color of Solution Final color of Solution Initial Presence of Glucose Final Presence of Glucose Initial Presence of Starch Final Presence of Starch

Bag Beaker

15% glucose 1% starch H2O & IKI

Clear Brown with chunks

Blue-black Blue-black

Yes No

Yes Yes

Yes No

Yes Yes

Lab B: Potato Core Group 3 Data

Contents in Beaker 0.4M sucrose 0.6M sucrose Initial Mass (g) 7.13 6.17 Final Mass 6.33 4.89 Mass Difference 0.8 1.28 Percent Change in Mass -11.2% -20.7%

To calculate percent change in mass = Final Mass-Initial Mass/Initial Mass x 100 Lab B: Potato Core Class Data Percent Change in Mass of Potato Cores Contents in Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Total Class Average Beaker 0.0M water 77.7 13.6 22.1 113.4 37.8 0.2M sucrose 4.8 5.5 x 10.3 5.2 0.4M sucrose -14.5 -11.2 -14.1 -39.8 -13.3 0.6M sucrose -20.7 -17 x -37.4 -18.7 0.8M sucrose -29 -22 -17 68 22.7 1.0M sucrose -13.5 -19.8 -23.7 57 19

Group Data
0 % Change in Mass -5 0 -10 -15 -20 -25 Sucrose Molarity -20.7 0.1 0.2 0.3 -11.2 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

Potato Cores Class Data

50 40 % Change in Cores 30 20 10 5.2 0 -10 0 -20 -30 Sucrose Molarity 0.2 0.4 -13.3 0.6 -18.7 0.8 1 1.2 22.7 19 37.8

Sucrose molar concentration equivalent to the molarity of the cores is about 0.24M

A. Diffusion Questions 1. Which substances are entering the dialysis bag and which are leaving? Glucose and IKI can leave and enter the dialysis bag. Starch molecules are too large to pass through the membrane. 2. Explain the results you obtained by discussing concentration differences and membrane pore size. Glucose went to the beaker to reach equilibrium. IKI water went into the bag to reach equilibrium. 3. What other molecule can we assume also moved across the membrane? Water molecules 4. How could this experiment be modified so that quantitative data could be collected to show that water diffused into the dialysis bag? If the initial and final percent concentration of glucose and IKI for the bag and beakers were calculated, the differences would show. 5. Based on your observations, compare the size of each of the following molecules with the membrane pore size: glucose, water, IKI, starch. Water molecules, IKI molecules, and glucose molecules- in order of increasing size- can pass through membrane pores. Starch cant pass through the membrane. 6. What results would you expect if the experiment was set up incorrectly? If the experiment started with glucose and IKI in the bag and starch and water in the beaker, the glucose and IKI would move out of the bag to make concentrations equal. The starch would not be able to move into the bag. 7. Explain why the digestion of starch to glucose is necessary. Starch is a complex molecule and has to be broken down into glucose. 8. Summarize the process of diffusion. Diffusion is the passive movement of molecules through a membrane to get from an area of higher concentration of those molecules to an area of lower concentration until a dynamic equilibrium is reached. B. Osmosis Questions

Sucrose Molarity and Zucchini Cores

30 % Change in Mass of Cores 20 10 0 -10 0 -20 -30 -40 Sucrose Molarity 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

9. 10. Determine the sucrose molar concentration equivalent to the molarity of the zucchini cells. 0.36M

11. Why did you calculate % change of mass of the potato cores rather than use the change in mass directly? The percent change in mass was calculated to show how much the mass increased due to the movement of water molecules. C. Plasmolysis 12. What is plasmolysis? The loss of water within a cell 13. In the winter, icy roads are often salted to remove the ice and make them less slippery. Grasses often die near the side of the road. What causes this to happen? Grasses around the salted area die because the water is drained from their cells and into the hypertonic salt area around them. 14. When a person is given an IV in the hospital, the fluid is typically a saline solution isotonic to human body tissues. Why is this necessary? If the solution was hypotonic or hypertonic, it will cause body cells to lose water or gain excess water. 15. What would happen if a patient was given an IV bag with distilled water rather than saline solution? Distilled water has a lower concentration of solutes than the blood cells and a higher concentration of water. Water will flow into the blood cells. 16. Explain why organisms need contractile vacuoles. An organism like Paramecium is hypertonic to the water its in. Water continually enters the cell, but the contractile vacuole forces excess water out to prevent it from being lysed. 17. Explain why contractile vacuoles would be of little value to one-celled organisms living in salt water. Theres no need to pump water out in salt water environments. 18. Explain why salty popcorn causes thirst The salt causes saliva to rush to your mouth to balance the salt and water concentrations. Sources of Error: Lab A: Shown in the table Lab A: Experimental Observations, there appeared to be starch in the final observations in the beaker. During final observations, the water in the beaker had blue and black spots, which indicates starch coming into contact with the IKI. Starch (in the bag) is not supposed to have passed through the selectively permeable membrane into the beaker. Starch is a larger molecule that does not easily pass through the membrane by diffusion. Lab group 3 was the only group to have this source of error. There might have been a hole in the tubing bag, or there was starch on the outer surface of the bag by accident. Lab C: After adding the salt solution to the onion cells sample, the cells should have shrunk and reduced in size, but no change took place when observed. The cells might have been dried out prior to the experiment, and thus did not visibly change.

Discussion and Conclusion:

Diffusion and osmosis, both types of passive transport, were observed during the labs. The hypothesis for labs A and B were proven correct. IKI and glucose molecules were able to pass through the selectively permeable membrane. Starch was a larger molecule and could not. There was a change in the mass each of the potato cores in Lab B. The percent change decreased (towards a negative value) as the molarity increased to 0.6M. After 0.8M, the percent change increased (towards a more positive value). In Lab C, the onion cells are supposed to shrivel after being flushed with salt solution. However, there was no change observed under the microscope. For a more credible experiment, the onion cells shouldnt have been stored in a dry place prior to the lab. Also, the actual concentration differences for Lab B could have been measured for quantitative, rather than qualitative, data.