Potato Slices and their mass after being put into various substances Kayla Wilson Biology Period A1

Introduction: A cell maintains equilibrium with its surroundings by taking in or releasing water. This is called osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water across the cell membrane. Water can either move in or out. If the outside solution is equal it doesnt move in or out and is isotonic. If the outside solution is lower in concentration then the solution is hypotonic and the water moves out. If the solution is higher in concentration then the solution is hypertonic and the water moves in. The purpose of this lab is to find out how osmosis works within the potato slices when it is put in different substances. We want to find out the internal sugar concentration of a potato, what solution is closest to the concentration of the potato.

Hypothesis: If I put the potato in different substances then its mass will change based on if the substance is hyper or hypotonic. Experimental Design & Procedure: Procedure -Gather your materials, 6 potato slices,6 plastic cups,6 sugar solutions,electronic balance,and a marker. -put a potato slice into a cup without any substance -place the cup on the scale and zero it out -do this for all the potato slices -add substances A,B,C,D,& E to separate cups with the potato slices in them -wait 45 minutes for the potato slices to absorb the liquid -drain the substance from the potato slice -put the cup without the substance on the balance and record the mass -do this for all 6 cups. Independent Variable :The 6 sugar substances Dependent Variable: The mass of the potato slices

Materials: -6 potato slices -6 plastic cups -6 sugar solutions -electronic balance -marker

Data: Solution A B C D E Intial Mass(g) 2.22 2.38 2.39 2.43 2.46 Final Mass (g) 1.77 1.91 1.97 2.11 2.41 Percent Change -20% -20% -18% -13% -1%

Anaylasis/Conclusion/Evaluation: The purpose of this lab was to find out which substance is close to the concentration in the potato,this clearly was substance E because it had the lowest percent change.In this lab 6 slices were put into different substances. Then they were measured to find out their mass.The results show us that the substances were hypotonic. This means that the sugar inside the potatos would move from lower concentration to higher. So they lost mass because they were giving there protiens or sugar to the substance.In this lab there are a few sources of error. The potatoes could be in more substance than others so it should be changed so the potatoes are in the same amount of each substance. Also,it isnt explained that you should zero out the scale before measuring the potato. A new hypothesis that could be tested because of the results of this experiment is, If potato slices have the same amount of sugar than a substance it is put in it will reach equilibrium or will have no change in mass.