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SA:Vol Ratio Impact on Potato Osmosis

The document describes an experiment that investigates how the surface area to volume ratio affects the rate of osmosis in potatoes. Potato cylinders were placed in sucrose solutions with varying surface area to volume ratios and the change in mass was measured. The results showed that higher surface area to volume ratios generally resulted in greater changes in mass, indicating a faster rate of osmosis, as more surface area allows more water to move across the membrane. Some improvements to the experiment are discussed.

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Sarah Daisy
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53 views2 pages

SA:Vol Ratio Impact on Potato Osmosis

The document describes an experiment that investigates how the surface area to volume ratio affects the rate of osmosis in potatoes. Potato cylinders were placed in sucrose solutions with varying surface area to volume ratios and the change in mass was measured. The results showed that higher surface area to volume ratios generally resulted in greater changes in mass, indicating a faster rate of osmosis, as more surface area allows more water to move across the membrane. Some improvements to the experiment are discussed.

Uploaded by

Sarah Daisy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Write up of how SA:Vol ratio affects osmosis in potatoes:

Method:
1. Gather 15 test tubes
2. Pour 2 cm^3 of distilled water into a measuring cylinder and make it up
to 10cm^3 (8cm^3) with 10% sucrose solution
3. Pour this into a test tube
4. Repeat this 5 times
5. Use a cork bora to get a cylinder of potato from a large potato
6. Use the same potato and repeat this 5 times
7. Measure the length of the potato cylinder (30mm) with a ruler and
measure the diameter (8mm).
8. Measure the surface area with the equation: π(d) x h + 2 π(r^2).
9. Measure the volume with the equation: π(r^2) x h
10. Quickly measure the mass of the 5 potato cylinders on a mass balance so
that they do not dry out and note them.
11. Put 1 potato cylinders into each test tube with the sucrose solution at
the same time and leave for 5 minutes.
12. Then remove them from the test tubes and pat them dry with a paper
towel to remove excess moisture.
13. Weight them individually on a mass balance and note the final mass.
14. Repeat this process for 3 different surface areas, keeping the volume
the same (in our case, we used 1 piece of 30mm, 2 pieces of 15mm (weighed 2 pieces
at a time), 3 pieces of 10mm (weighed 3 pieces at a time) for different surface
areas).
15. Measure the difference in mass for each surface area and the percentage
increase, and take an average of results.
16. Plot a graph of results

Results:
Concentration: 2cm^3 distilled water + 8cm^3 10% sucrose solution.

8mm diameter
30 mm height
Mass -
1: 1.62 - 1.64
2: 2.12 - 2.15
3: 1.89 - 1.90
4: 1.98 - 2.02
5: 1.97 - 1.98

8mm diameter
15 mm height x2
Mass-
1. 1.83 - 1.88
2. 1.82 - 1.87
3. 1.82 - 1.88
4. 1.76 - 1.82
5. 1.61 - 1.66

8mm diameter
10 mm height x3
Mass-
1. 1.97 - 2.04
2. 1.86 - 1.93
3. 1.99 -2.07
4. 2.02 -2.08
5. 1.95 -2.02
Results Table:
Surface area: volume ratio Change in Mass 1 (%) Change in Mass 2 (%) Change
in Mass 3 (%) Change in Mass 4 (%) Change in Mass 5 (%) Mean percentage
change (%)
272π : 480π 1.23 1.42 0.53 1.23 0.53 0.99
304π : 480π 2.73 2.75 3.30 3.41 3.11 3.06
336π : 480π 3.55 3.76 4.02 2.97 3.59 3.58
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the higher the surface area, the larger the change in mass, meaning
the greater the rate of osmosis. This is due to a larger surface area providing
more area for water molecules to pass through the semi-permeable membrane, meaning
a greater volume of solvent can move across the membrane per unit of time (minutes
in our case). This results in a faster rate of osmosis. Most of the graphs have a
similar graphical shape except experiment 4, where the highest surface area to
volume ratio (336π : 480π) has a lower mean percentage change in mass (rate of
osmosis) than that of 304π : 480π. This could be down to human error (e.g. delayed
removal of the potato with surface area 304π : 480π, so more water was taken up, or
that sample was not dried sufficiently before weighing).
• How could the experiment be improved?
To improve the experiment I would make sure the repeated potato samples are the
same mass, as this would affect the rate of osmosis and percentage mass change. I
would also change the way the potatoes are added to the sucrose solutions, as there
was a large time delay between each potato sample being added to each test tube, so
I do the experiment one potato sample at a time to increase the validity of the
experiment.

Graph:


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