Diffusion and Osmosis

 
Teacher: Eloísa Sardina
 

 
11/9/2019
 

 
10-I
 

Alvaro Enrique Florian Sánchez

 Introduction
Diffusion is when molecules start to spread out in order to occupy the available space.

The molecules in a liquid tend to diffuse from a more concentrated space to a less concentrated

one.

There are different types of transportation, but the most used one in diffusion, which is

the passive transport that helps substances pass through a membrane without energy. These

molecules will move from a high concentration of solutes to a low concentration of such (T.

Goldberg, 2017).

The rate of diffusion for different substances is affected by the membrane´s permeability.

For instance, water diffuses freely across cell membranes, but other molecules cannot. They must

be helped across the cell membrane through a process called facilitated diffusion (Bailey, 10

April 2019).

“A number of naturally occurring processes rely on the diffusion of

molecules. Respiration involves the diffusion of gasses (oxygen and carbon dioxide) into and out

of the blood. In the lungs, carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the air at lung alveoli. Red

blood cells then bind the oxygen that diffuses from the air into the blood. Oxygen and other

nutrients in the blood are transported to tissues where gasses and nutrients are exchanged.

Carbon dioxide and wastes diffuse from tissue cells into the blood, while oxygen, glucose and

other nutrients in the blood diffuse into body tissues.” (Bailey, 10 April 2019).

Diffusion can also happen in plant cells. “The process of photosynthesis that occurs in

plant leaves depends on the diffusion of gasses. In photosynthesis, energy from sunlight, water,

and carbon dioxide are used to produce glucose, oxygen, and water. Carbon dioxide diffuses
from the air through tiny pores in plant leaves called stomata. Oxygen produced by

photosynthesis diffuses from the plant through the stomata into the atmosphere.” (Bailey, 10

April 2019).

Osmosis is special in the way of passive transport, when water diffuses across a

semipermeable membrane which allows some molecules to pass but others no.

“Osmosis is a process where solvent molecules move through a semipermeable

membrane from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution. In most cases, the solvent that is

used is water, but the solvent may be another type of liquid or in some cases the gas.”

(Helmenstine, 3 of July 2019).

“Osmosis acts to balance the concentration on both sides of the memnrane. As we know

the solute particles are incapable of crossing the membrane, so it’s the water that needs to move.

In conclusion if the system gets closer to equilibrium, it´s going to be more stable, so osmosis is

thermodynamically favorable for all solutes and solutions.” (Helmenstine, 3 of July 2019).

“Some good examples of osmosis is seen when the red blood cells are placed into water,

the membrane of the red blood cell is semipermeable, so the concentration of ions and other

solutes are higher inside the cell than outside. This is why water moves into the cell via osmosis.

This causes the cell to get bigger; since the concentration is not equilibrating, the amount of

water that can move the cell is moderated by the pressure of its membrane. Often, cells take in

more water than the membrane can sustain, causing them to burst.” (Helmenstine, 3 of July

2019).
 Osmotic pressure, a term related to osmosis refers to the external pressure that would

need to be applied such that there would be nor net movement of solvent across a membrane

(Helmenstine, 3 of July 2019 ).

Some similarities between osmosis and diffusion is that they both balance the

concentration of two solutions. They also work in orther to move water molecules from a high

area of concentration to a low one. In contrast, osmosis and diffusion also hold a few

differences. For instance, diffusion the movement of any chemical or material from one place

to another, where osmosis refers to movement of water across a membrane (T. Goldberg,

2017).

Objectives
 Study the relationship of surface area and volume, were they are important factors

in determining the rate of diffusion.

 Study the interactions between selectively permeable membranes, water, and

solutes are important in cellular and organismal functions.

 Finishing with an experiment that identifies the concentrations of the sucrose

solutions.

Hypothesis
In this practice we will be able to see how Osmosis and diffusion properties work in

created cells, as in living cells of different plants. Likewise, in each experiment we will realize
that the mass of each of the cells will change dramatically, where we can differentiate what is

happening with each one of them.

Materials and procedures

Experiment #1: Surface Area and Cell Size
Materials:
 Unflavored gelatin.
 237 mL of water.
 2.5 mL (1%) of phenolphthalein.
 0.1 M NaOH.
 Knife.
 Ruler.
Procedure:
During this experiment, the teacher premixed a packet of unflavored gelatin with 237 mL of

water, then added 2.5 mL (1%) of phenolphthalein and a few drops of 0.1 M NaOH. Afterwards,

the solution was bright pink. Then the gelatin mixture was poured into shallow pans and

refrigerated overnight. The next day, the gelatin was cut into three types of cubes using the knife

and measuring that each of them have different sizes using the ruler. The gelatin portion that

was given by the teacher was cut into 1 cm, 2 cm, and 3 cm sized cubes. Then, a beaker was

filled with 100 mL of HCL. Each of the cubes were submerged in beakers and 10 minutes were
waited. After the 10 minutes passed, each of the cubes were carefully removed from the

solution and placed in a metal tray.

Figure 1. Gelatin cube inside the HCL solution.

Experiment #2: Diffusion on Living Cells

Materials:
 Tweezers, or any instrument that you could use for extracting a piece of the material we
are going to use.
 Part of an onion.
 Glass slide.
 Saltwater.
 Sugar water.
 Dropper.
 Microscope
Procedure:
With the aid of tweezers, a part of an onion's skin was removed. The onion skin was properly

placed in a slide. Then, students could choose between a sucrose solution and a salt solution.

With a dropper, a few drops were dropped into the onion skin sample, which was then

covered with a smaller slide, and let to rest for 10 minutes before being put under the

microscope.
 Figure 2. Piece of onion peel in the
microscope.

Experiment #3: Diffusion and Osmosis in Living Cells

Materials:
 Potato.
 Knife.
 Ruler.
 Balance.
 Beakers.
 Solutions of sucrose. (Different amounts prepared by the teacher)
 Towel paper
Procedure:
Several potato strips were cut with the dimensions of 1 cm height, 1 cm length and 3 cm width,

which was then pat dry with a paper towel. Afterwards, the potato strips were weighted, and

each placed in different beakers with varying concentrations of sucrose for 30 minutes. After

the time was up, the potato strips were taken out, pat dry, and weighted once again.
Figure 3. Piece of potato inside the sucrose solution.
 Results and Discussion
Experiment #1: Surface Area and Cell Size
In this station, all the cubes changed color, but not mass, thanks to the Hydrochloric acid that

diffused into the gelatin cubes since it an acid and the NaOH that mas mixed into the gelatin

was basic. It must be pointed out that the only cube that diffused completely was the smaller

one, while the other ones partially diffused because of the difference in mass between the

cubes. This helps scientists to understand that the other bigger cubes weren´t able to diffuse

completely, thanks to their bigger mass and size.

Chart 1. Observation of how much it diffused all the

three cells.
Table 1. Observation of Surface Area, Volume, Ratio and % of Diffusion of gelatin blocks in HCL.

Size Cube (cm) Surface Area (cm2) Volume (cm3) Ratio % Diffusion
1 6 1 6 100
2 24 8 3 87.5
3 54 27 2 78.5

Explanation: After being taken out of the beakers, the diffused parts of the cubes were

measured. The ratio was the calculated by dividing the surface area by the volume. The

percentage of diffusion was taken from the subtraction between the surface’s areas of the

pink, non-diffused part and the transparent part of the cube, to then divided by the volume and

multiplying them by 100 to find the %.

 Figure 3. Gelatin cube of 1x1 cm out of the solution with its changes in characteristics.

Experiment #2: Diffusion on Living Cells

This experiment showed that if saltwater is used, cells lose water, thereby shriveling and the

way they were arranged to form the piece of the onion peel. All these observations made

through the microscope, showed how the saltwater was able to change the cells walls and the

plasma membrane, founding the hypothesis that the reaction made by these two components

made the onion cells loose water thanks to the hypertonic environment they were on, this

made the plasma membrane to shrink. However, after the 10 minutes went by, there were still

some cells that remained, but as time passed by, the entirely of the cells broke down and

“disappeared”.

Table 2. Parts of the experiment and its different changes after putting it with the solution.
Type of plant used Solution Before exposing After exposing
Onion Saltwater When we see it The cells are les
through the dilated, a bunch of
microscope, we can them have lose their
differentiate that the color purple.
cell is normal with its
purple color.
Experiment #3: Diffusion and osmosis in Living Cells
At some point, this experiment went wrong, because as the change in mass of the beaker 1 and

2 were calculated, the change in mass after submersion was bigger in the 0.8 molar

concentration (Beaker 2) rather than in the one molar concentration (Beaker 1).

Table 3. Changes in mass after putting the potato in the different solutions.
Beaker Concentration iMass (g) fMass (g) qChange in %Change in
(M) mass mass
1 1.0 3.2 2.9 -0.3 -9.4
2 0.8 3.2 2.8 -0.4 -12.5
3 0.6 5.1 4.7 -0.4 -7.8
4 0.4 4.4 4.3 -0.1 -2.2
5 0.2 4.5 4.4 -0.1 -2.2
6 0 3.2 3.2 0 0
Explanation: After measuring the mass before and after the potatoes submersion on the

different sucrose concentrations, we used the fMass (Is the mass after submersion on the

concentration)results and subtracted it with the iMass (The initial mass of the potato before

submersion) results in order to see how much each of them changed (The result should be

negative). To find the % of change in mass, the change in mass was divided by the iMass and

multiplied by 100.

Chart 2. Observation of the change in mass using different types of solutions.

Change in Mass (%)

 Conclusion
After the experiments were conducted, through this lab, a better understanding of how

diffusion works was obtained. The data gained was able to demonstrate those characteristics,

the data didn’t show where osmosis and diffusion occur. Inside the data obtained, the

independent variables that where able to be identified where all the concentrations of all the three

experiments, and the dependent variables where the ones who we used to put inside the

concentration. In the first experiment was talking about diffusion and how molecules go from a

more concentrated area and diffused to a less concentrated environment as show with the gelatin

and the HCL.

In the other hand, in the second experiment, the way cell plant's cell wall is broken due

to the absorption of the saltwater, leaving them to die, was viewed, another words was to see

how the cells where going to react being in a hypertonic environment. Although some of the

results were right, during the third experiment, the results weren’t as well as expected, in this

case the 1 molar and the 0.8 molar after submersion, had unexpected results as the mass of the

potato submerged in the 0.8M concentration was bigger than that of the 1M concentration.

That´s why this lab could be modified to get more specific data about the experiments, as well as

more precise measurements of the solutions and methods of how to do each of the phases of the

experiment. With those alterations to the lab practice, the chance to understanding much more

diffusion and osmosis is bigger and having a better data.

 Bibliography
 Regina Bailey. April 10, 2019. Thought Co, Learn about Diffusion.
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-diffusion-3967439

 T. Goldberg, D. 2017. Barron´s The Leader in Test Preparation, AP BIOLOGY.6TH

Edition. New York: Barron´s.

 B. Reece, J. 2014. Campbell Biology, Reece – Urry – Cain – Wasserman – Minorsky –

Jackson. 10TH Edition. California: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.

 Anne Marie Helmenstine. July 3, 2019. Thought Co, Osmosis Deffinition in Chemistry.
https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-osmosis-605890

 Colldge Board. N.D. Colledge Board, Investigation 4: Diffusion and Osmosis.

https://unit-resources-apc-
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