2012.1.20
Biology
Iso-osmolar Concentration of Carrot Cells Lab
INTRODUCTION
For a more thorough understanding of this lab introduction, the concepts of, iso osmolar, membrane, equilibrium, and concentration gradient evaluated. Iso osmolar can be known as the point in which the substance of experimentation faces no change despite the amount of solute inside the solvent( because the solvent and solute concentration is equal. This is where the line on a graph would cross on the x-axis). Selectively permeable membrane can be defined as a microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins that bounds cells and organelles and forms structures within cells and it controls what comes in and out of the cell. Equilibrium is the state of a chemical reaction in which its forward and reverse reactions occur at equal rates so that the concentration of the reactants and products does not change with time. Before this experiment, we were educated on how osmosis functions. Osmosis is a process which molecules and water take to usually get through a selectively permeable membrane in order to reach equilibrium. It is a passive transport which requires no ATF and water moves from high to low water concentration. When osmosis is completed, there should be an equal concentration o water on both sides of the experiment. We have also learned about the iso osmolar point which is when the concentration of molecules are identical inside and outside. Also, we predicted that if the carrot sticks were placed into higher concentrations of sucrose solutions, then the sticks would loose more water.
The concentration of particles inside the carrot cells will be found by having them placed into various different solutions with different sucrose concentrations. This will cause the carrot cells to either lose or gain water as the control tries to reach equilibrium with the solution. By measuring the carrot mass before the experiment and after they sat in the mixture for two days,