O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 1

The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis

Belle O’Hara
Honors Biology Period 3
Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School
April 30, 2018
O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 2

Introduction:

Passive transport is when particles move from high concentration to low concentration across the

cell membrane, it requires no extra energy or ATP, and moves with the concentration gradient.

To be selectively permeable means that the membrane will only let certain things pass in and out

in certain quantitates. Osmosis is the movement of water from a high to low concentration. There

are three different osmosis environments: hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic. A hypotonic

solution is when there is a higher concentration of solute inside the cell causing water to flow

inside the cell (McGraw-Hill companies , 2012). A hypertonic environment is when there is a

higher concentration of solutes outside the cell, causing the water inside to flow outside of the

cell (McGraw-Hill companies , 2012). An isotonic environment is when there is an equal amount

of water and solutes inside and outside the cell (McGraw-Hill companies , 2012). It is important

to know the importance of osmosis and its environments because if we drink too much or too

little we could be putting our cells into dangerous environments like hypotonic or hypertonic. If

our cells are in a hypotonic environment they could burst, and if they are in a hypertonic

environment they could shrivel up. Dialysis tubing is made up of selectively permeable cellulose

tubing perforated with microscopic pores. (Flinn Scientific 201) The dialysis tubing acts as a

selectively permeable membrane in the lab for the water. One purpose for this lab was to

compare the effects of diffusion using the dialysis tubing in different solutions of water. Another

purpose was to determine if specific substances are capable of passing in or out of the cell.

Finally, another purpose is to see if the dialysis tubing would react differently in the

environments it was placed in. Beaker one represents a simulated cell in an isotonic environment.

Beaker two represents a simulated cell in a hypotonic environment. Beaker three represents a cell

in a simulated cell also in a hypotonic environment. Beaker four represents a simulated cell in a
O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 3

hypertonic environment. Beaker five had two simulated cells in it, one represented a hypertonic

environment, and the other represented a cell in a hypotonic environment. The dependent

variable for part 1 was the mass of the bags after they were in the beakers of solutions, the

independent variable was the solutions. For part two the dependent variable was the dialysis

tubing and what it is permeable to, and the independent variable was the iodine. The constants

for part one was the beakers, the amount of water, and the dialysis tubing. The experimental

groups were the groups with the different solutions and the control group was the beaker filled

with pure water and the tubing with pure water. The constants in part two was the dialysis tubing

and the amount of water and iodine. Since there was only one beaker filled with iodine that is the

experimental group. If you place a dialysis tubing filled with 5 mL of water into 200 mL of

water, then the mass will stay around the same. If you place a dialysis tubing filled with 5 mL of

20% glucose solution in 200 mL of water, then the tubing will gain mass. If you place a dialysis

tubing filled with 40% glucose solution into 200 mL of water, then the tubing will gain mass. If

you place a dialysis tubing filled with 5 mL of 60% glucose solution into 200 mL of water, then

the tubing will gain mass. If you place a dialysis tubing filled with 5 mL of water into 200 mL of

60% glucose solution, then the tubing will lose mass. If you place a dialysis tubing filled with 5

mL of 80% glucose solution into 200 mL of 60% glucose solution, then the mass will stay about

the same. For part two, if the iodine is placed in the beaker, then the iodine will get in the bag as

well and be permeable through the membrane.

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Materials:

For Part One:

 5 Dialysis Tubing Bags

 String

 4 Beakers Filled with 200 mL of Water

 1 Beaker Filled with 200 mL of 60% Glucose Solution

 Scale

 Timer

For Part Two:

 1 Beaker Filled Half Way with Water

 1 Dialysis Tubing

 String

 Spoonful of Starch

 20 Drops of Iodine

Procedures:

For Part One:

1. Fill two dialysis tubing with 5 mL of water.

2. Fold over the top of the dialysis tubing, and then fold it sideways, and then fold over

again. Pinch the middle of the folds and tie a knot around it with the string. Fold over

both the top and the bottoms of both of the tubing.

3. Fill one dialysis tubing with 5 mL of 20% glucose solution.

4. Do the same folds and tie as done in step 2.

5. Fill one dialysis tubing with 5 mL of 40% glucose solution.

O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 5

6. Do the same folds and tie as done in step 2.

7. Fill one dialysis tubing with 5 mL of 60% glucose solution.

8. Do the same folds and tie as done in step 2.

9. Fill one dialysis tubing with 5 mL of 80% glucose solution.

10. Do the same folds and tie as done in step 2.

11. Weigh all of the dialysis tubing and record down their mass in grams.

12. Fill four beakers with 200 mL of water.

13. Fill one beaker will 200 mL of 60% glucose solution.

14. At the same time put the dialysis tubing with the water in one of the beakers with water,

the tubing with 20% glucose in water, the tubing with 40% glucose in water, and the

tubing with 60% glucose in the last beaker of water. Put the tubing of 80% glucose and

the water in the same beaker with 60% glucose.

15. Keep the different tubing in the beakers for 3 minutes and then take them all out at the

same time.

16. Weigh all of the different tubing and mark down the mass in ounces.

17. Put all of the tubing back in their beakers at the same time and start the timer.

18. Take them all out after 3 minutes and weigh them.

19. Put them all back in their beakers for 3 minutes again, and then weigh them.

20. Find the difference of the masses between each time interval and mark it down to find

results.

(Diffusion Through Cell Membranes )

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Part Two:

1. Take a beaker and fill it half way with pure water.

2. Put a spoonful of starch and water in the dialysis tubing and tie it like the tubing in part

one.

3. Put the simulated cell in the beaker and drop 20 drops of iodine in the beaker of water.

4. This will make the water turn yellow and will see if the dialysis tubing is permeable to

iodine and starch.

Results:

Table One: The Average Mass Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis

Time 20 % in 40% in 60% in Water in 80% in

(minutes) Water in Water Water Water Water 60% 60%
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
3.00 0.21 0.32 0.41 0.57 -0.15 0.24
6.00 0.29 0.53 0.80 1.01 -0.53 0.32
9.00 0.25 0.70 1.11 1.41 -0.78 0.40
The table above shows the average mass taken at different times in the dialysis tubing by 12
different groups in three different classes. All of the dialysis tubing started with an average mass
of zero. They were weighed after each time interval, 3 minutes, 6 minutes, and 9 minutes. The
averages were calculated by all the different classes by taking the average mass of 3 minutes in
all of the groups and subtracting it by the average mass of the tubing at 0 minutes. By adding all
of numbers into a table all of the groups were able to get accurate average masses of all the
groups experiments. The title ‘Water in Water’ represents 5 mL of water in a tubing in a beaker
of 200 mL of water. The title ‘20% in Water’ represents 5 mL of 20% glucose in a tubing in a
beaker of 200 mL of water. The title ‘40% in Water’ represents 5 mL of 40% glucose in a tubing
in 200 mL of water. The title ‘60% in Water’ represents 5 mL of 60% of glucose in a tubing in a
beaker of 200 mL of water. The title ‘Water in 60%’ represents 5 mL of water in a tubing in a
beaker of 200 mL of 60% glucose solution. Finally, the title ‘80% in 60%’ represents 5 mL of
80% glucose solution in a tubing in a beaker of 200 mL of 60% glucose solution.
O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 7

The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis

2.00

1.50

1.00
Mass in Ounces

0.50

0.00

-0.50

-1.00
0.00 3.00 6.00 9.00
Time in Minutes

Water in Water 20 % in Water 40% in Water

60% in Water Water in 60% 80% in 60%

Figure Two: The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis

The figure above shows the average mass of the dialysis tubing while osmosis is taking place.
The mass is shown on the y axis because it is the dependent variable in the experiment, and the
time is shown on the x axis because it is the independent variable in the experiment. The tubing
and its beaker is shown through color coded lines, and plots to show the average mass at that
time period. The averages that are shown above were taken from the data in Table One. The
titles represent the same as they do in Table One.

Part One:

In part one six different dialysis tubing were placed into six different environments. The dialysis

tubing represented a simulated cell and was tested to see how the environments would affect the

dialysis tubing after certain time intervals. All of the tubing started out at time zero and had an

average change of mass at zero. After three minutes the dialysis tubing was taken out of the

beakers and was weighed. For the tubing that was filled with 5 mL of water and placed in a

beaker of 200 mL of water the average change in mass was 0.21 ounces after three minutes. In
O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 8

the dialysis tubing that had 5 mL of 20% glucose in it and placed into 200 mL of water the

average change in mass was 0.32 ounces after three minutes. In the dialysis tubing that had 5 mL

of 40% glucose and placed into 200 mL of water had an average weight change of 0.41 ounces

after three minutes. The tubing that had 5 mL of 60% glucose solution and was placed into 200

mL of water had an average weight change of 0.57 ounces after three minutes. The tubing that

had 5 mL of water and was placed into 200 mL of 60% glucose had an average change in weight

of -0.15 ounces. Lastly, the tubing that had 5 mL of 80% glucose and was placed into 200 mL of

60% glucose had an average change in mass of 0.24 ounces. The second time the bags were

weighed was three minutes after they got put into the beakers again, at six minutes in total. The

first tubing filled with water and placed in water had an average mass change of 0.29 ounces at

six minutes. The second tubing filled with 20% glucose and placed in water had an average mass

change of 0.53 ounces at six minutes. The third tubing filled with 40% glucose and placed in

water had an average mass change of 0.80 ounces at six minutes. The fourth tubing filled with

60% glucose and placed in water had an average mass change of 1.01 ounces at six minutes. The

fifth tubing filled with water and placed in 60% glucose had an average mass change of -0.53

ounces after six minutes. The sixth tubing filled with 80% glucose and placed in 60% glucose

had an average mass change of 0.32 ounces after six minutes. Once again, the tubing is placed

back in their beakers for another three minutes and taken out at a total time of nine minutes. The

first tubing had an average mass change of 0.25 ounces after nine minutes. The second tubing

had an average mass change of 0.70 ounces after nine minutes. The third tubing had an average

mass change of 0.80 ounces after nine minutes. The fourth tubing had an average mass change of

nine minutes. Finally, the sixth tubing had an average mass change of 0.40 ounces in nine

minutes. Table One and Figure One both show the data described above.
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Part Two:

In part two it was tested to see what the dialysis tubing, the simulated cell in this experiment, was

permeable to. Starch was put into the tubing and then placed into water that had 20 drops of

iodine in it. It was left to sit and soon the water started turning yellow with the iodine in it. Later,

the bag started turning purple, showing that iodine got in the bag. However, the starch was not

able to get through the bag,

Discussion:

Certain bags were able to gain mass or lose mass in part one of the lab based on what

environment they were in. For example, bag number three, that had 40% glucose in water gained

mass because the tubing was placed in a hypotonic environment. The water was coming into the

cell because the water goes from a high to low concentration during osmosis. But in bag number

five, the water placed into 60% glucose, the bag lost mass because it was placed into a

hypertonic environment. The water was going out of the cell, from the high to low concentration,

causing the cell to lose weight. As the simulated cell gets closer to equilibrium the rate of

osmosis slows down. The higher the concentration gradient, the faster the rate of osmosis. When

the concentration gradient gets slower, it means that the cell is getting closer to equilibrium. The

tubing filled with 80% glucose and was placed in 60% glucose did not gain as much weight as

the 20% glucose in water because it had a higher solute concentration. In the tubing with the

20% in the water, there was all pure water on the outside, so the concentration gradient was

higher making the rate of osmosis faster. But, in the tubing with the 80% placed in 60% glucose,

they were closer to equilibrium, making the rate of osmosis slower, not making it gain as much

mass. In part two, the inside of the dialysis tubing turned blue because the iodine was permeable

to the membrane of the simulated cell, that was the dialysis tubing. This shows that iodine is
O’Hara The Average Mass of Dialysis Tubing During Osmosis 10

permeable to the membrane, however starch is not since it was not able to get to the outside of

the tubing. In the experiment, four sources of error could have been that the groups mixed up

their bags, they measured their mass in different measurements, or they didn’t put the right

amount of substances in the bags or beakers. The biggest source of error however, is that the

groups did not leave their bags in long enough due to time circumstances. If a change could be

made to this lab, it would be to experiment more with the different environments and leave the

tubing in the beakers longer to see how they would react. For example, seeing if the tubing

placed in the hypotonic environment would actually burst eventually, or if the cell in the

hypertonic environment would actually wilt up.

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References:

Diffusion Through Cell Membranes . (n.d.).

Flinn Scientific . (2016). Diffusion using Dialysis Tubing . Retrieved from Flinn Scientific Bio
Fax:
https://www.flinnsci.com/api/library/Download/b6f74cf5b625446b900eb45aee4c2cab
McGraw-Hill companies . (2012). Biology . Columbus : McGraw-Hill comapnies .
Wiley. (n.d.). Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry . Retrieved from Cellular Transport :
https://www.wiley.com/legacy/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/membrane_transpo
rt/membrane_transport.htm