Osmosis Lab Conclusion
Why did some potatoes lose mass?
Potatoes A, E (and sometimes C) lost mass because they were placed in hypertonic solutions. That means the potato possessed more water than their environment and left the potato due to osmosis.
Why did some potatoes gain mass?
Potatoes B, D (and sometimes C) gained mass because they were placed in hypotonic solutions. That means the potato possessed less water than their environment and entered the potato due to osmosis.
Why did some potatoes stay the same mass?
(Sometimes potato C) neither gained nor lost mass because it was placed in an isotonic solution. That means that the potato and the environment possessed the same concentration of water, so no water movement was observed.
How did you determine the concentrations of the solutions?
Osmosis means that water will diffuse from a high concentration of water to a low concentration of water. A higher concentration of water exists in a hypotonic solution and a low concentration of water exists in a hypertonic solution.
How did you determine the concentrations of the solutions?
Potato A lost the most mass, meaning it was placed in the most hypertonic solution. Since the most hypertonic solution used in lab was 0.8 M, Potato A was placed in 0.8 M solution.
The next most mass loss was Potato E, so it was placed in the next most hypertonic solution: 0.6 M.
Potato D gained the most mass, meaning it was placed in the most hypotonic solution. Since the most hypotonic solution used in lab was 0.0 M, Potato D was placed in 0.0 M solution.
The next most mass gain was Potato B, so it was placed in the next most hypotonic solution: 0.2 M.
Why did you calculate percent change in mass?
Percent change in mass was calculated to control for any differences in initial mass recordings.