Carter Koester

Ap Bio

10/5/2016
Block E
Diffusion and Osmosis

Introduction:
Molecules are in constant motion; they move from areas of high concentration, to areas
of low concentration. The principle is divided into two categories diffusion and osmosis.
Diffusion is the movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to a area of
lower concentration. This is a passive form of transportation because it does not require
additional energy to transport the molecules. In the body, molecules like carbon dioxide and
oxygen can diffuse across cell membranes.
Osmosis is a type of diffusion where water moves through a selectively permeable
membrane from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential. In the
body, water diffuses across cell membranes through osmosis. Water potential is the measure of
energy of water in a solution. Water potential is affected by two factors: osmotic potential ()
and pressure potential (p). osmotic potential is dependent on the solute concentration, and the
pressure potential is the energy that forms from exertion of pressure either positive or negative
on a solution. The equation to find water potential is:Water Potential = Pressure Potential +
Osmotic Potential
w = p +
Hypothesis:
Osmosis and diffusion will occur between two solutions until both solutions become
isotonic and create a dynamic equilibrium.
Materials:
Lab 1A One 30cm strip of dialysis tubing (presoaked), distilled water, 15%glucose/1%starch
solution, 250mL beaker, Iodine Potassium Iodide solution, glucose Test tape, and string.
Lab 1B Six presoaked strips of dialysis tubing, distilled water,glucose,Sucrose,Protein,NaCl,
six 250mL glass beakers, string, and an electronic balance.
Lab 1C A potato, a onion, a core borer, a knife, distilled water, pipet,varied solutions, ruler

Exercise 1A

First, soak the dialysis tubing in distilled water for 24 hours.Remove the tubing and tie off one
end. Twist the end of the bag several times and then fold it onto itself. Next, open the other end
of the tubing by rubbing the end between two fingers. Fill it with the glucose/starch solution
using a funnel. Use the glucose tape by dipping it into the solution. Record the change of color of
the tape and the color of the bag. Tie of the end. It is necessary to leave space for expansion but
no air. Fill the beaker with distilled water and add the 4-ml of Lugols solution. Record the color
change. Use glucose tap to test for any glucose in the water. Record these results. Set the dialysis
tubing in the beaker and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Remove the bag and record the change in
water and bag color. Use the last two pieces of glucose tape to measure the glucose in the water
and bag. Record results.
Exercise 1B
Soak the dialysis tubing for about 24 hours. Tie off one end of each tube with the clamps. Next,
fill each tube with a different solution (distilled water,Glucose, Sucrose, Protein, and NaCl) with
the funnel and tie off the end again leaving empty space, but no air. Weigh each bag separately
on the electronic balance and record the masses. Soak the bags in separate cups filled with
distilled water for about 30 minutes. Remove the bags and gently dry with paper towel. Reweigh,
and record the mass.
Exercise 1C
To start, cut thin slices of onion and potato.Place them on a clean flat slides. Place the slide under
a light microscope. Observe as you hydrate the slices with solutions with protein,glucose,
sucrose,NaCl. As the plant cells become either swollen and Turgid, Flaccid or
plasmolyzed.Record the data into a table.
Data:
1A
Solution

Color

Presence of

Glucose

Initial

Final

Initial

Final

Dialysis Bag

15%Glucose/
1%Starch

Milky White

Midnight
blue

Algae Green

Mahogany

Beaker

Water+IKI

Amber

Rusty Amber

Pear Green

Olive Green

Which substance(s) are entering the bag and which are leaving the bag? What experimental
evidence supports your answer? Iodine Potassium Iodide and water enter the bag. This can be
seen by the change in color and the increase in the size of the bag. The glucose left the bag and

this can be seen by a positive test on the water surrounding it.

Explain the results you obtained. Include the concentration differences and membrane pore size
in your discussion. The results show that the water, glucose, and IKI molecules were able to fit
through the selectively permeable membrane. The starch didnt leave the beaker because its
molecules could not pass through the selectively permeable membrane.
Quantitative data uses numbers to measure observed changes. How could this experiment be
modified so that quantitative data could be collected to show that water diffused into the dialysis
bag? The bags could be weighed before and following them being in the solution. The volume of
the solution in the beaker could be found before and after the bag being in the solution by using a
graduated cylinder.
Based on your observations, rank the following by relative size, beginning with the smallest:
glucose molecules, water, IKI, membrane pores, and starch molecules. The smallest was water,
then the IKI molecules, glucose, the membrane pores, and the largest substance was the starch
molecules.
What results would you expect if the experiment started with a glucose and IKI solution inside
the bag and only starch and water outside? Why? Based on the size of the molecules, the glucose
and IKI would move out of the bag and the water would go in. The large starch molecules would
be left in the beaker.
1B
Solutions

Initial

Final

Mass Difference

Percent Change

H2O

10.4g

13.6g

2.2g

30.7%

Protein

10.2g

10.44g

.24g

2.35%

Sucrose

12g

14g

2g

16.66%

How can you use weights of the filled cell models to determine the rate and direction of
diffusion? What would be the appropriate control for the procedure?
You can use the weights of the filled cell to determine the rate and direction by comparing the
weight of the cell model after resting in the water. If the model cell weight increased then water
diffused into the model cell because of its lower water potential. But if the model cell is lighter
than water diffused out of the cell because of its higher water potential. The best control for this
would be a model cell filled with distilled water placed in a beaker of distilled water. Since both

sides are distilled water with the same water potential in theory there should be no weight
change.
Suppose you could test other things besides weights of the dialysis tubes.How could you
determine the rates and directions of water,sucrose,NaCl,glucose?
You could find the concentration of the substances after they were placed in the solutions. So if
the concentration decreased water had diffused into the cell model diluting the water or the
substance diffused out of the model cell.
What factors determine the rate and direction of Osmosis?
Water potential and the surface area of the model cell. The larger the surface area of the model
cell the more osmosis can occur. Than water potential affects it because water naturally flows
from areas of higher water potential to areas of lower water potential. This is because of the
pressure and solute potential that make up water potential.
When will the net Osmosis rate equal zero in the model cells? Will it truly ever equal zero?
Yes the net osmosis rate will equal zero because water creates a dynamic equilibrium. Where
water flows in and out of the cell but at equal rates so the concentration never changes.
1C
Sucrose

H2O

NaCl

Potato

Plasmolyzed

Turgid

Plasmolyzed

Onion

Plasmolyzed

Turgid

Plasmolyzed

What would your results be if the potato were placed in a dry area for several days before your
experiment?
The water potential in the cell would decrease making it hypertonic to any solution it would be
put in.
Will water move in or out of a plant cell if the cell has a higher water potential than its
surrounding environment?
The would leave the plant cell because water flows from an area of high water potential to a area
of low water potential.
Was the water potential different from the different plants?
No, or at least not significantly. The plants largely reacted the same to the liquids showing they
had at least a similar water potential to get the same results.
How do determine which solution is isotonic to the cell?
You determine if a solution is isotonic to a cell by seeing its effects on the cell. If it is a plant cell
then it will be flaccid and if it is a animal cell it will be normal.

Error analysis:
1A.
Since we did not do it there were no errors.
1B.
The biggest error is that somehow our control water increased in mass. This we either muddled
up the solution or we put it in the wrong solution making the rest of our data wrong.
1C.
The person looking through the microscope is more or less blind and in addition to being blind
did not know what turgid meant making some of the data have to be redone.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this lab was to investigate the processes of osmosis and diffusion in a model
of a membrane system, as well as, investigating the effects of solute concentration on water
potential as it relates to living plant tissues.Our hypothesis could not be fully tested because of
the severity of the errors committed during the lab. The control not working when we placed
water in water makes it impossible to prove solutions reach an equilibrium with our data. This
makes it impossible to prove the equilibrium just using our lab.
1A shows that different molecules can and cannot diffuse through a selectively permeable
membrane.1B shows that different molecules diffuse across selectively permeable membranes at
different rates and directions.1C shows that cells react differently to different levels and rates of
osmosis.The two main factors at play in this lab were water potential and concentration gradient.
The concentration gradient is what things diffuse down they go from a high concentration two a
low concentration. Water potential is based on pressure potential + solute potential and both play
a major role in the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane which is osmosis.
Osmosis has different effects whether or not a solution is hyper, hypo, or isotonic. These
difference can be the life or death for the cell.