All cells have membranes that may be or are selectively permeable.

It allows certain substances in and out of the cell. This is a process in which molecules of some substance move from an area of high concentration to low concentration which is called diffusion. Another is osmosis which is a process in the diffusion of water into and out of cells through a selectively permeable membrane from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Both diffusion and osmosis are types of passive transport which the cell uses no energy to move particles. The lab of observing osmosis with gummy bear was a way to see the osmotic balance when the movement of water into and out of a cell in this case the gummy bear. We started out with just a gummy bear and then we just put it in water over night and the water went in the gummy bear. Which went from a region of high concentration to a region of lower concentration. The gummy bear being in the beaker over night made it soak up with water which changed in height, width, and mass. The second thing we did was the diffusion through membranes lab. Our goal was to determine if the diffusion rate for a molecule is affected by the presence of a second molecule. By using different substances in the membrane and the beaker we were able to see that the rate was affected by the different substances. When we used different percentages of the substance it caused the rate to go down or up depending on the percentage and the substance in the beaker. What I saw was the higher the percentage the higher the rate was. Another lab we did was the potato lab. We were to see if the percentages of salt water and distiller water we used affected the potato slices. All of the four different cups we used with the different percentage of salt water had a change. The cup that change the most was cup a which had only distiller water and it gained the most mass compared to all of the others. The other three that had salt water decreased in mass and it looked like it shrunk in size because the potato cells died because it soak up the salt water and made it lost mass and had a brown dead looking color. I the egg lab when we put the egg in vinegar it increased in size the greater concentration was in the egg and then when we put it in syrup it caused it to shrink. Once we put it in water again it increased back in size. All these labs helped us really see what is diffusion and osmosis and the affects it has on objects with different substances we used. Salt water was the one that affected the most and with the percentage it had. We were able to determine what the salt water did to the objects and affects it had if we used a second substance.