Diffusion of Selected Plant Pigments

Group 1 - Lorenzo Daniel L. Antonio, Paolo Carlo Calalang, Timothy Carandang, Oneil Joshua Calderon, MHAB1 Submitted to: Maam Elena M. Ragragio Submitted: September 20, 2012

Introduction Plants use passive transport, transporting biochemical substances across membranes without the use of chemical energy. It uses diffusion and osmosis to transport without protein carriers. The random movement of particles causing them to move from areas where they are in relatively high concentration to areas where they are in relatively low concentration is known as diffusion. Osmosis is known as diffusion through a membrane. Objectives The objective is to determine factors that affect the process of diffusion. Hypothesis Higher temperatures will cause faster rates of diffusion. Greater differences in concentration gradient between inside and outside of membrane will cause faster diffusion into the lower concentration gradient. Methodology Materials: Atsuete seeds 4 test tubes Distilled water Vegetable oil Procedure: The atsuete seeds were weighed and 1 gram was put in each of the test tubes.

The 4 test tubes, named test tubes 1-4, will each have: Test tube 1: 10 ml distilled water Test tube 2: 10 ml distilled water placed in a boiling water bath Test tube 3: 10 ml of vegetable oil Test tube 4: 10ml of heated vegetable oil After thirty minutes, allowing diffusion to take place between the solvents and seeds, the test tubes were shaken, and then the color intensities in each tube were recorded using these: + ++ +++ Results
Table 11.1.1: Diffusion of Selected Plant Pigments

Intense More intense Most intense

Substance Color Intensities + Test Tube 1 +++ Test Tube 2 + Test Tube 3 ++ Test Tube 4 Results in Table 11.1.1 show that the color intensities of the pigments of atsuete seeds were least intense in test tubes 1 and 3, relatively more intense in test tube 4, and most intense in test tube 2.

Discussion Diffusion is the random movement of particles causing them to move from areas where they are in relatively high concentration to areas where they are in relatively low concentration. Having a high rate of diffusion would mean resulting high color intensity for the test tube. Temperature is a factor in diffusion. Test tube 2, which was placed in a boiling water bath, had the most intense color intensity. A References

higher temperature means quicker molecule movement. This quicker molecule movement translates to quicker diffusion, causing higher color intensity. This is also shown in test tube 4, where it is slightly more intense than test tube 3 as it utilized heated vegetable oil. Greater differences in concentration gradient between inside and outside of membrane also caused faster diffusion into the lower concentration gradient. Water is more concentrated than oil, making diffusion into water a little faster compared with oil.

J. Mauseth, Botany, 2009 Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc., p. 269.