Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 1

Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab

Olivia Bonvenuto
Honors Biology 10 Period 4
Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic
April 30th, 2018
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 2

Introduction:

Passive transport is a type of cell transport were molecules move from a high

concentration to a low concentration until they reach equilibrium. There are many different kind

of Passive Transport, three to be exact. “There is Simple Diffusion, Facilitated Diffusion, and

Osmosis” (biologydictionary.com, 2017). Osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane

from a high concentration to a low concentration until equilibrium is reached successfully. The

cell membrane itself is not able to control osmosis because the aquaporins that allow water to

pass through it constantly open, what does control Osmosis are what osmotic environment that

the cell is in. “There are three different Osmotic Environments, Hypotonic, Isotonic, and the

Hypertonic environments” (Saucedo, 2012). A Hypotonic environment is when there is a higher

concentration of water outside the cell membrane than there is inside the cell membrane, so the

water will move into the cell instead of out of the cell. A Hypertonic environment is when there

is more pure water inside the cell than on the outside of the cell. Water will move out of the cell

and into the outside of the cell. Lastly, an Isotonic environment is when there is the same

osmotic pressure (Saucedo, 2012). Osmosis is an important thing have knowledge about not only

for the purpose of the Lab that was conducted but for many outside situations in life. Such as in

fruits and even in medicine. This is explained further at scienceclarified.com, Most fruits are about

75% water, and this meaning that most fruits will begin the process of rotting quickly if not

preserved. To preserve fruit, it must be dehydrated, such as you can buy in a store or at a gas

station. When dehydrating fruit bacteria is put into an environment where the fruit is not

comfortable with being it, for example like salt on meat in order to keep it before cooking.

Throughout the years many people have tried many different techniques in order to try and
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 3

master the process of drying fruits. But many of the methods end with the fruits becoming hard

and shriveled. The reasoning behind this is that with drying fruits the method used is using heat

from the sun, and this resolves into a fast and dramatic change to the fruits. In order to conduct

the Osmosis Lab, dialysis tubing is needed to complete the lab. Dialysis tubing is a semi-

permeable membrane. It is used in dialysis, a process which involves the removal of very small

molecular weight solutes from a solution, along with equilibrating the solutions

(Sigmaaldrich.com.) Used in this specific lab we used the dialysis tubing to be able to see how

the movement of solutes affected the weight within each tube after being placed into a certain

beaker with a certain amount of starch solution in it. The purpose for conducting Part 1 in this

lab was to see which environment osmosis occurs the fastest in and to see the different effects of

osmosis and different osmotic environments. There was two parts to this lab so a purpose for the

second part was to determine what the dialysis tubing is permeable to constants in Part 1. The

set up that was used in Part 1 of the experiment contained six different beakers and five different

beakers, the first would have a bag that was ½ full of tap water, the second would have a bag that

was ½ full of 20% of starch solution, the third would have a bag that was ½ full of 40% starch

solution, the fourth bag would be ½ full of 60% starch solution, the fifth bag would also be ½

full of tap water, and the sixth bag would have be ½ full of 80% starch solution. All of the

beakers would contain water except for the fifth one, which would contain 60% of glucose. Each

beaker is to represent a different type of osmotic environment, such as beaker 1 that represent.

There are Dependent and Independent variables to every lab or experiment conducted. Stated on

thoughtco.com An independent variable is the variable that is changed or controlled in a

scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable. A dependent variable is the

variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment (Helmenstine, 2018 ). For Part 1
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 4

the dependent variable was the mass change and the independent variable was the concentration

in solution, osmotic solution/environment and amount of glucose in each solution. And for Part

2, the dependent was the color chance, and the independent was the location of starch in the

dialysis tubing. While also having independent and dependent variables, there is more to it than

just those two things in each experiment conducted. There are also constants, experimental

groups, and control groups as well and hypothesis are made for each part as well. For Part 1 the

constants were the measurement of 5mL of each solution that was in each simulated cell, the

same amount of water or solution in each beaker (200mL), how the dialysis tubing was tied, and

how the dialysis tubing was filled, submerged, dried, weighing, and the amount of time that was

in for. The two groups are control and experimental, for Part 1 the control group was the dialysis

tubing with water in the beaker with water, and the experimental group are the other 5 bags and

beakers. The hypothesis for Part 1 was, if when solutes inside or outside a cell move to

eventually reach equilibrium then will the cells will differ in weight. In Part 2 the constants were

the amount of iodine, the ½ spoonful of starch into the bag, and the washing of the simulate cell

before placing it into the beaker again. The control group for Part 2 was the original set up, clear

water inside the simulated cell and the experimental group was the setup after, dark blue, violet,

black water inside the simulated cell. The hypothesis for Part 2 was, If the dialysis tubing is

semi-permeable to iodine then the colors will change to prove that iodine was able to pass

through the semi permeable membrane.

Materials

 Beakers

o Part 1: 5 beakers

o Part 2: 6 beakers
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 Glucose solution

o 20%

o 40%

o 60%

o 80%

 Water solution

 Dialysis tubing

 Scale

 String

 Pipets

 Graduated Cylinders

 Paper towels

 Iodine

 Starch

Procedures (Part 1&2)

Part 1:

1. 5 pieces of dialysis tubing that has already been soaking in water.

2. Take a piece of dialysis tubing and fold it from the bottom up about 1 cm and then fold it

up again length wise.

3. After it is folded take a small piece of string to tie it off, right in the middle of the fold, tie

it tight and to make sure it is secured be sure to use many knots, and cut off any string

that might remain.

4. Fill in total 6 bags for part 1 and fill each with the set directions.
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 6

a. Bag 1- ½ full of tap water

b. Bag 2- ½ full of 20% starch solution

c. Bag 3- ½ full of 40% starch solution

d. Bag 4- ½ full of 60% starch solution

e. Bag 5- ½ full of tap water

f. Bag 6- ½ full of 80% starch solution

5. Make sure each bag is not stretched tight when tied off because “cells” could possibly

expand, swell, or lose weight.

6. Weigh each of the bags separately using a glass weight dish and write down each of the

BEGINNING masses.

7. In total you should have 5 beakers.

a. 1-4 filled with 200mL of water and one with 200mL of 60% glucose solution

8. Each bag needs to be paced into the beaker corresponding with the number EXCEPT BAG

6! Bag 6 will be placed with bag 5 in the 60% glucose solution.

a. Bag 1 with beaker 1

b. Bag 2 with beaker 2

c. Bag 3 with beaker 3

d. Bag 4 with beaker 4

e. Bag 5 with beaker 5

f. Bag 6 also placed with Bag 5 in beaker 5

9. When placing the bags into the correct beaker, make sure that they are being placed in all

at the SAME EXACT time.

10. Every 3 minutes take out the bags in each beaker AT THE SAME TIME.
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 7

11. Dry each bag off gently with a paper towel and weigh each bag again.

12. Go until 9 minuets has passed and at 9 minutes pull all the bags out for one last time, dry,

weigh, and record in the chart.

Part 2:

1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 from Part 1, only prepare 1 dialysis tubing piece.

2. Fill the tube with about 1 teaspoon of starch solution.

3. Once filled half way, fold the other end and tie a not at the other end.

4. Fill a beaker ½ full with tap water and add 8 drops of iodine.

5. Place the simulated cell into the beaker and fill in initial colors and data into the chart

provided.

6. Let sit over night to be able to see the full results.

7. Come back and note the colors that it is now.

Procedure information found in Diffusion Through Cell Membrane packet.

Results: Table 1- Results of the simulated cells weight

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

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3 208 317 408 567 -150 241

6 291 534 800 1009 533 316

9 249 701 1108 1409 -783 399

The table above includes the results gathered from Part 1 of this specific lab. The results
were taken from every group that conducted the experiment and averaged together to form the
data above. The testing portion of the lab was done with 5 different beakers and 6 different bags,
shown in columns two through seven. The first column is the time intervals that were used, the
starting at 0, 3, 6, and 9. The second column is the results of the 5mL of water in a 200mL of
water in a beaker. The third column is the results of a 5mL of 20% glucose solution in a 200mL
beaker of water. The fourth column are the results of 5mL of 40% glucose solution in a 200mL
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 8

beaker of water. The fifth column are the results of 5mL of 60% glucose solution in a 200mL
beaker of water. The sixth column represents the data of the tubing with 5mL of tap water into a
beaker that contains a 60% glucose solution. And the last column is a bag with 5mL of 80%
glucose solution inside a beaker filled with 200mL of a 60% glucose solution. The numbers
were found by calculating the gain and loss of mass of the simulated cells. To assure that the
results were all on the same page is we used the differences of the weights at each allotted time
period. And not the actual weight of the bag because there could have been such different
numbers within each group so to use the differences made the results more accurate for what we
were trying to accomplish.

Figure 1- Line Graph Representing the Data of Changes in Mass

The graph above holds the information of the results of the change in mass over an allotted time
period. The times of when we record were from 0-3 minutes, 3-6 minutes, and 6-9 minutes. At
every three minutes it was weighted and that weight is what is represented in the graph above.
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 9

The Dark Blue line represents the bag with 5mL of water inside a beaker of water, the Light Blue
line represents the bag of 5mL of 80% in a beaker of 60% glucose solution change in mass, the
Yellow line represents the change of mass in a bag of 5mL of 60% starch solution in a beaker of
60% glucose solution, the Gray line shows a bag of 40% starch solution in a beaker of water
mass change, and the Orange line represents 5mL of 20% starch solution in a beaker of water as
well. The X-axis on the graph is the independent variable which is the time since that is what
can be changed and the Y-axis is the dependent variable which is the change in mass.

In Part 2 the results that were found was that the dialysis tubing was permeable to iodine and
which after the hours that it sat the water was turned clear, after being turned yellow from the
iodine drops that were put into the water, and inside the dialysis tubing the white substance went
to a deep purple, black like color.

Discussion

The bags that were used to represent a simulated cell either gained or lost weight throughout Part

1 of the experiment. Why? Well due to the different osmotic environments they were put into,

either hypotonic, hypertonic, or isotonic. If the simulated cell is put into a hypotonic

environment where more water was on the outside of the simulated cell and more solutes are

inside the cell would become heavier. If the cell was placed into an isotonic environment where

here is the same amount of water outside as there is inside the cell, it had already reached

equilibrium, and will not gain or lose any weight. But if put into a hypertonic environment then

the cell would have more water inside the than outside the cell and would lose weight causing it

to begin to shrink and shrivel. When the cell becomes closer to equilibrium the rate of osmosis

slows down and when there is a higher concentration gradient compared to a lower concentration

gradient the rate of osmosis speeds up. The 80/60 simulated cell did not gain as much weight

from 0-3 compared to the 20/0 simulated cell because in the 80/20 there is more solutes inside

the cell and less water so the water would move into the cell that is already full of solutes and not

have much more to gain, but with the 20/0 there is 80% water inside the cell and 20% solutes
 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 10

compared to 0% solute and 100% water so it is in an a hypotonic environment and it would cause

it to have the water move into the cell and cause it to gain the weight of the solutes. In Part 2 the

inside of the simulate cell turned blue because the membrane was permeable to iodine and

allowed it to enter into the cell and when starch and iodine mix there is a reaction and it turns

into a dark blue, purple color. Sources of error occurred during this lab, like the temperature of

water in the beakers 4/5 were warm water and 1/5 were room temperature. The times were

altered with since we only had one class period and simply ran out of time. Another example of

a source of error was out labeling at the beginning we had to reliable since we mixed them up.

And the at some points the bags did not enter at the same time as one another. One change to

make this lab better would be to have everyone complete or at least help out with Part 2 of the

lab because it was difficult to understand and translate into words if we had not done Part 2, and

to review the results of Part 2 further.

 Osmosis within Different Osmotic Environments Lab 11

Works Cited

Biologydictionary.com, E. o. (2017, April 5). Retrieved from biologydictionary:

https://biologydictionary.net/facilitated-diffusion/

Francis, F. J. (2000). Osmosis- Real-life Applications Vol 2. Scienceclarified.

Helmenstine, T. (2018 , February 23). What is the difference between Independent and

Dependant variables. Retrieved from thoughtco.com:

https://www.thoughtco.com/independent-and-dependent-variables-differences-606115

Saucedo, J. (2012, January 5). Retrieved from brighthubeducation.com:

https://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-homework-help/111424-guide-to-

hypotonic-hypertonic-and-isotonic-solutions/

Sigma-editors. (2016, march 23). Retrieved from sigmaaldrich.com:

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/labware/dialysis-tubing.html