experiment to demonstrate exosmosis and endosmsis in potato slices or cubes
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Materials:
A potato, salt, water (if you have distilled water, that kind is best), a couple of drinking glasses.
Procedure:
Fill two glasses with water
In one of the glasses add 2-3 tablespoons of salt, and stir it in
Slice up a potato into French fry-like pieces
Make your observations on these pieces: pay attention to color, how flexible it is, smell, etc.
Take a guess about how you think these slices might change by putting them into the different types of water
Dunk the pieces in the water, and then let them sit overnight in it
Remove the pieces onto a plate and make your final observations
Explanation:
You will notice some immediate differences in the potato slices. The color of the salted water one is dark brown; not a nice image of how you would like your potatoes preserved! The one in the regular water looks like a nice white freshly cut piece of potato. Moving on to the flexible test, the regular water one again feels firm and crisp (try to break the piece, it snaps!). The salt water potato is bendy and doesn’t snap at all.
Osmosis is the key to understanding this issue. Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a semi-permeable membrane (yikes!) from an area of high concentration of water, to an area of low concentration.
Semi-permeable membrane: a layer that only certain things can go through. For example, parts of the potato that water can pass through.
Salt is the key here. Water will move from an area of less salt to more salt (more water to less water), and so when the potato is placed in the salt water, all the water that is inside the potato (yes, plants have a lot of water inside of them, that’s what gives a plant it’s structure) moves out by osmosis. Thus, the potato gets all flimsy and not crisp anymore. Much like if you were to water all your houseplants with salt water. They would all get flimsy, and then die, and then your parents would be upset so don’t try that at home please.
A potato, salt, water (if you have distilled water, that kind is best), a couple of drinking glasses.
Procedure:
Fill two glasses with water
In one of the glasses add 2-3 tablespoons of salt, and stir it in
Slice up a potato into French fry-like pieces
Make your observations on these pieces: pay attention to color, how flexible it is, smell, etc.
Take a guess about how you think these slices might change by putting them into the different types of water
Dunk the pieces in the water, and then let them sit overnight in it
Remove the pieces onto a plate and make your final observations
Explanation:
You will notice some immediate differences in the potato slices. The color of the salted water one is dark brown; not a nice image of how you would like your potatoes preserved! The one in the regular water looks like a nice white freshly cut piece of potato. Moving on to the flexible test, the regular water one again feels firm and crisp (try to break the piece, it snaps!). The salt water potato is bendy and doesn’t snap at all.
Osmosis is the key to understanding this issue. Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a semi-permeable membrane (yikes!) from an area of high concentration of water, to an area of low concentration.
Semi-permeable membrane: a layer that only certain things can go through. For example, parts of the potato that water can pass through.
Salt is the key here. Water will move from an area of less salt to more salt (more water to less water), and so when the potato is placed in the salt water, all the water that is inside the potato (yes, plants have a lot of water inside of them, that’s what gives a plant it’s structure) moves out by osmosis. Thus, the potato gets all flimsy and not crisp anymore. Much like if you were to water all your houseplants with salt water. They would all get flimsy, and then die, and then your parents would be upset so don’t try that at home please.
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