Questions

Q1.

A student takes two strips from the epidermis of an onion and places one in distilled
water and the other in concentrated salt solution.

She then uses a camera to photograph a sample of these cells under a microscope.

(a) Suggest why a red onion is often used when carrying out this investigation.
(1)
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(b) (i) The differences in the appearance of the plant cells are due to osmosis.

Explain what is meant by the term osmosis.

(2)
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(ii) Explain why the cells in distilled water look different when compared to the
cells in salt solution.
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Q2

A student wants to investigate osmosis using potato tissue.

(a) What is meant by the term osmosis?

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(b) The student puts 90 cm3 of glucose solution of different concentrations into six different plastic cups.
He then puts one raw potato chip into each cup. The diagram shows one of the plastic cups.

The potato chips were all the same mass and shape at the start of the investigation. After 12 hours the
chips are removed and the volume of solution in the plastic cups is measured. The table shows the
results.
(i) Use the information in the table to plot a graph on the grid to show the volume of solution remaining
in the cup after 12 hours in each concentration of glucose. Use a ruler to join your points with straight
lines.
(5)
 (ii) Use your graph to estimate the concentration of the cytoplasm in the potato cells.
(1)
concentration ........................................................... mol/dm 3

(iii) Complete the table by ticking the boxes to show the cups in which the potato chips lost water.
(1)

(c) (i) Name the independent variable in this investigation.

(1)
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(ii) Name a controlled variable in this investigation.

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(iii) Suggest two reasons why the volume of solution measured by the student may not be accurate.
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2 ..........................................................................................................................................

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(iv) Suggest a piece of apparatus that could be used to give a precise measurement of the volume of
the solution left in each cup.
(1)
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(Total for question = 15 marks)

Q3.

A chicken egg is a single cell protected by a shell on the outside.

A student puts three chicken eggs into dilute acid and leaves them for three days.

The acid dissolves the egg shells, leaving the contents of the eggs surrounded by the cell membrane.

The diagram shows the student's method.

The student removes the eggs from the dilute acid and uses water to wash the surface acid away.

The student then uses the eggs for this osmosis experiment.

 he measures the mass of each egg

 he then puts one egg into a beaker containing distilled water
 he puts another egg into a beaker containing 5% salt solution
 he puts a third egg into a beaker containing 15% salt solution
 after 15 minutes he removes each egg from its beaker and measures its mass again

(a) The bar graph shows the results obtained by the student from the osmosis experiment.
 (i) Name the dependent variable in this experiment.
(1)
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(ii) Explain the result for the egg placed in distilled water.
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(b) The student calculates the percentage change in mass for the eggs placed in
distilled water and in 5% salt solution.
(i) Use the data from graph 1 to calculate the percentage change in mass for the egg placed in 15%
salt solution. Show your working.
(2)

Percentage change in mass = ............................. %

(ii) The student plots the percentage change in mass on graph 2.

Complete the bar graph to show the percentage change in mass for the egg placed in 15% salt
 solution.
(1)

(c) Give one way in which osmosis differs from diffusion.

(1)
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(Total for question = 7 marks)

Mark Scheme

Q1.

Q2.
(Total for question = 15 marks)
Q3.
Q4.
Q5.
Total 7 marks