Beta Vulgaris Lab Report

Introduction
• The problem we are studying was to determine the cellular damage of various concentrations of propanol, ethanol, methanol, NaCL, and sodium dodecyl sulfate henceforth known as SDS on Beta vulgaris to ultimately distinguish the ability of each solution to permeate the membrane of the Beta vulgaris.
• Beta vulgaris contains a beta cyanin which is a water-soluble red-pigment, which remains in a healthy vacuole surrounded by the tonoplast membrane. When we damage the tonoplast membrane and thus disrupt the vacuole, this red pigment spilled out into the solution and the solution turns red with a higher intensity of color proportionate to a higher amount of damage to the membrane.
• Due to the three laws of diffusion across the
The rate will also increase in each solution as the concentration of these solution increases. o As detergents emulsify liquids, the amount of damage across the membrane increases at a constant rate, as the concentration of the SDS increases from low to high. o Since NaCL cannot cross the Beta vulgaris membrane, water will move into the Beta vulgaris membrane at a low concentration of NaCL, making the solution hypotonic, then out of the membrane as the concentration of NaCL increases, making the solution hypertonic. (Sadava, Heller, Hillis, and Berenbaum 2011)
Results
Using the solutions of beta cyanin from Beta vulgaris and various concentrations of different alcohols, transferred from the spot plates to the spectrometer, and their absorbance values our results were compared in Figure 1. The absorbance values of the solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate and beta cyanin from Beta vulgaris can be seen in Figure 2. Figure 3 shows the absorbance values of the solution of NaCL and beta cyanin from Beta
(Sadava, Heller, Hillis, and Berenbaum 2011) Figure 3 therefore does not show the movement of NaCl across the Beta vulgaris membrane and consequently shows osmosis at different concentrations of NaCl. When there is no NaCL compared to when the concentration of NaCL is 3%, the movement of water across the Beta vulgaris membrane decreased by a factor of 0. The solution at 0% NaCl is hypertonic in that there is a low concentration of sodium chloride and a high concentration of water. Being that the rate of beta cyanin and water movement across the membrane at 0% NaCL to a concentration of 3% was .02 (the slope), it is evident that water moved out of the cell faster at lower concentrations of NaCl. As a result of a hypertonic solution the Beta vulgaris membrane shrivels as water moves outside the cell, which also take the beta cyanin pigment with it. This is why at a 0% concentration the absorbance value is higher because more pigment was moved out of the membrane with the water. From a concentration of 3% NaCl to a concentration of 6% NaCl, the rate of movement across the membrane changed to .013, hence as the concentration of NaCl increases the rate of movement of water across the membrane decreases as the solution becomes more hypotonic and the net movement of water began to slow as it moved into become equivalent in solute concentrations or isotonic. As more