Osmosis

Finding out the Rate of Osmosis in a Potato After Being Left in a Solution.

What are you trying to find out?

I am trying to find out how much water has been diffused into a potato when placed in different strengths of solution. But before the experiment can take place I need to explore all areas in which could produce biased or inaccurate results.

What can influence the results of the experiment?

Temperature - The temperature in which the experiment is conducted can affect the experiment. If one or more of the samples are at a higher temperature than the others they will diffuse water molecules faster because, when heated, molecules move faster therefore osmosis will occur faster. So I will have to be sure that all of my samples are as close to the same temperature as possible.

The amount of solution - The amount of solution that is present in each sample has to be similar as possible as if one sample has more solution than another then the chance of that sample diffusing more water is high which will give an inaccurate result.

Where the potato is from - Where the potato is from can influence the result because if some potatoes were grown in a muddy field and the rest were grown in dry fields it is likely that the potatoes from the muddy fields have already diffused a lot of water whereas the potatoes from the dry field would not have diffuse as much as the others. So therefore I need to select potatoes that are produced from the same company so that it is likely that they have being grown in the same place or at least been grow under the same conditions.

Size of the potato - The size the potato will affect my results because if one particular potato is larger than the others it will have more cells in which to diffuse more water molecules so therefore will gain a lot more weight in which will bias my results.

What have I chosen to investigate?

I have chosen to investigate the affect on the potato after it has been placed in different strengths of solution ranging from 0M up to 1M with intervals of 0.2M therefore I will have five results in which will give me and accurate idea of the final result.

How am I going to carry out the investigation?

First I will cut 15 pieces of potato (of the same shape) this is so I can place three potato shapes in each test tube in which I will