Bending Kangkong Stalk

Introduction

About 75 percent of living cells are made up of water. In multicellular organisms, even the
external surrounding of cells is composed of water. Water molecules are therefore located in and out of
living cells separated by the cell membrane. Because the concentration of solutes in water differs in and
out of the cells, water molecules tend to move across the cell membrane to gain equal concentration of
solutes. When water undergoes movement across the cell membrane, the phenomenon is called water
potential. Water potential can be observed with the naked eye in the entry and exit of water in the cell
structure of tissue or organ, such as the internode of water spinach or kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica)

Objective: Study the water potential in the cells of kangkong stems

Estimated Time Frame: 30-40 minutes

Materials

 Stalk of water spinach (kangkong)

 Tap water
 Salt
 Sugar
 Plastic cup
 Ruler
 Blade or knife
 Spoon
 Marking pen
 Labels

Procedure
1. Label three plastic cups with A, B and C
2. Fill each with the following solution
A. tap water
B. Sugar solution (1 cup of water + 1 tablespoon of sugar)
C. Salt (1 cup of water + 1 tablespoon of salt)
3. Select an internode (between two nodes) of the kangkong stalk with a large diameter and cut
out a length of 1.5 inches using blade/knife.
4. Cut the internode longitudinally into two halves.
5. Further cut each half into three longitudinal parts to obtain a total of six strips from the whole
internode. Make sure that six kangkong internode strips are almost the same size.
6. Observe and draw the appearance of the strips right after cutting.
7. Place two strips into each cups. Make sure that all strips are well submerged into their
corresponding solutions.
8. Incubate the strips into the different solutions for ten minutes.
9. Observe and draw the changes in appearance of strips after the incubation period.

Observation
Appearance before incubation

Tap water Sugar solution Salt Solution

Appearance after incubation

Tap water Sugar solution Salt Solution

Conclusion:
Changes in the tissue strips after incubation

Tap water Sugar Solution Salt Solution

1. Length
2. Thickness
3. Shape
4. texture

Conclusion:

Post-Laboratory questions:
 Using graphs and written descriptions, summarize the effects of the treatments in your lab
notebook:
1. Which treatment produced the most bending? The least?
2. Was there any difficulty in determining which treatment produced the most bending? If so,
describe why.
3. Did any other measurements clearly differ between treatments?

 Write down at least five questions related to changes you have observed. At least one question
should relate to qualitative data and at least one to your quantitative data