Osmosis Lab Report 1

Semi-Permeable Simulated Cells

Zack Rocco
Honors Biology Period 3
Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School
April 30, 2018
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Introduction

Passive transport is the movement from a higher concentration to a lower concentration.

This kind of transport does not need a chemical energy, which is the opposite of active transport.

Active transport goes from a low concentration to a higher concentration, thus having to use

chemical energy. Passive transport gets its energy from kinetic and natural energy. (Biology

Online 1). Cell membranes are described as selectively permeable, some solutes can pass

through, some cannot, and some need help to pass through. (Pearson 1). Osmosis is the process

where molecules of a solvent can pass through a Semi-permeable cell membrane from a low

concentration to a higher concentrated solution, which then equals out the concentrations on both

sides of the membrane. (Britannica 1). There are three terms in Biology that describe the

osmolarity of a cell. Those three terms are hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic. If the fluid inside

the cell has a higher osmolarity than the fluid outside the cell (extracellular fluid), and water

flows into the cell then it is described as hypotonic. Hypertonic is the opposite of hypotonic, the

extracellular fluid has a higher osmolarity than the inside fluid and water flows out of the cell.

Isotonic is where the extracellular fluid and cytoplasm (inside fluid) have the same osmolarity

and water does not flow in nor out of the cell. (Khan Academy 1). Understanding osmosis is very

important because it is used in a lot of important things, like food, as in meats and fruits, it is

used in medicine, and plants use osmosis too. When someone is in a pool or some sort of water

too long, their skin will start to prune. Osmosis is what causes the skin to do that. Dialysis tubing

is acting as a semi permeable cell membrane to demonstrate diffusion and osmosis. The dialysis

tubing’s purpose is to measure the starch, the iodine, and the glucose that is used in this lab.

(Gardner 1). There are many purposes for this lab. This lab is done to gain further knowledge of

osmosis, to compare the effects of diffusion, and to determine if specific substances are able to
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pass in and out of a cell. The beakers are used to represent cells, the dialysis tubes, in different

environments. The cells will be in one out of the three environments, isotonic, hypertonic, and

hypotonic. (Gardner 1). The bags will consist of water, 20% starch, 40% starch, 60% starch, or

80% starch. The dependent variable for part I of this lab is the change of mass, and the

independent variable is the concentration in the solution. The dependent variable for part II is the

color of the cell and the independent variable is the time it was in the solution. The constants for

part I are that they were all placed in and taken out at the same time, they were all dried off, they

all had knots, and they all had the same amount of water and solution. The control group for part

I was the first bag (bag 1), the experimental groups for part I were all the other bags tested. The

constants for part II are the ends were cut the same length, same drops of iodine, same amount of

time, and the knots were all the same. The control group for part II was the solution put into the

bag, the experimental group was solution put in the beakers. A good hypothesis for part I is, if I

put the bags with the starch solution in the beaker solution, then they will change weight. A good

hypothesis for part II is, If I place the cell in the iodine water, then it will change colors.

Materials

 6 Beakers

 Glucose Solutions (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%)

 Water Solution

 Dialysis Tubing

 Scale

 String

 Paper Towels
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 Timer

 Pipets

 Iodine

 Starch

 Graduated Cylinders

Procedures

Part I

1. Set up 4 beakers and fill 4 or them with 200 mL of pure water

2. The 5th beaker gets filled with 200 mL of 60% glucose solution

3. Create 6 stimulated cells using the dialysis tubing

4. 1st cell is filled with 5 mL of water, and it will be placed in a beaker full of water

5. 2nd cell is filled with 5 mL of 20% glucose solution, and will be placed in a beaker full of

water

6. 3rd cell was fill with 5 mL of 40% glucose solution, and it will be placed in a beaker full

of water

7. 4th cell is filled with 60% glucose solution, and it will be placed in a beaker full of water

8. 5th cell is filled with 60% glucose solution, and it will be placed in a beaker full of water

9. 6th cell is filled with 80% glucose solution, and it will be placed in a beaker full of 60%

glucose solution

10. Place the tubing in the beakers at the same time for 3 minutes and then take them out

11. Dry them off and weigh them with the scale

12. Place them in the beakers again for another 3 mins

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13. Take them out dry them off then weigh them again

14. Repeat one more time

Part II

1. Fill a beaker half way with water (measurements don’t matter)

2. Create another simulated cell that is full of water and a half spoonful of starch

3. Put the cell in beaker full of water

4. Then drop 20 drops of iodine in the beaker

5. After it is done lightly dry off the cell

6. Record any change of color in the beaker.

Results

Table 1: Mass of Each Cell

Time Water in Water 20% in water 40% in water 60% in water Water in 60% 80% in 60%

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3 208 317 408 567 -150 241

6 291 534 800 1009 -533 316

9 249 701 1108 1409 -783 399

This table shows the mass of the cells after each time we tested them. We tested them three times
and the table shows the mass change after each test.
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Mass v Time
2000.00
1500.00
1000.00
500.00
0.00
1 2 3 4
-500.00
-1000.00

Water in Water 20 % in Water 40% in Water

60% in Water Water in 60% 80% in 60%
Water in Water 20 % in Water 40% in Water
60% in Water Water in 60% 80% in 60%

Figure 1: Mass vs. Time

This graph shows the rate of change of mass in the bags over time

Table 1 and figure one shows the results of the osmosis lab. The mass for water in water rose

from 208 to 291 after 6 minutes, then plummeted down to 249 after 9 minutes. The orange line

on the graph shows the water in water, how it went up then went back down in mass. 20% in

water kept rising as it went to 317 after 3 minutes, then up to 534 after 6 minutes, then up 701

after 9 minutes. On the graph the grey line represents 20% in water rising each time. For 40% in

water, the mass also kept increasing, after 3 minutes it went to 408, then after 6 minutes it rose

392 making it 800. Then after 9 minutes it rose 318 making it 1108. The yellow line on the graph

represents 40% in water. For 60% in water, it steadily increased to 1409 after 9 minutes. The

light blue line on figure one shows the increase of mass for 60% in water. Water in 60% kept

dropping as it was in the negatives, after 3 minutes it was -150, then went to -533 after 6

minutes, then dropped all the way down to -783 after 9 minutes. The green line on the graph

shows the declining mass in water in 60%. Lastly, 80% in 60% barely increased as it went up to
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241 after 3 minutes, then 316 after 6 minutes, then 399 after 9 minutes. The dark blue line on the

graph shows the minimal increase in mass for 80% in 60%.

Discussion

Certain bags lost or gained weight in this lab because of the water flowing in and out of the cells.

When the simulated cell gets closer to equilibrium, it experiences the isotonic environment,

which is when it is trying to get to equilibrium. When osmosis has a higher concentration, it

causes the cells weight to change because they move into different environments. The 80% in

60% did not gain as much weight as the 20% in water in the first three minutes because there

was more equilibrium, which kept it around the same weight. The 80% in 60% also had more

glucose in it. The 20% in water did not have much equilibrium, therefore causing its weight to

change. For part II of the osmosis lab, the inside of the cell turned blue because the iodine

solution diffused into the bag. The dialysis tubing is permeable to water. Four sources of error in

this lab were that some of the groups did not have enough time to complete the whole lab, or

they had to rush. Another one is that in the classroom while doing this experiment it was very

chaotic and it was hard to focus. Another source of error in this lab is that some of the strings on

the top of the bags came off and that could have given some inaccurate measurements. One more

source of error was that making sure you completely dried off the bag before putting it on the

scale. If there was one thing that I could change about this lab, it would be that we had more time

to do it so we could time them for 10 minutes at a time, rather than 3. I feel like that would have

given us more accurate readings and we wouldn’t have to be in such a rush to get finished.
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References

Mozo, M. V. (2017, August 27). Passive Transport. Retrieved from www.biology-online.org

Pearson (2016). BioCoach Activity. Retrieved from www.phschool.com

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017, September 19). Osmosis. Retrieved from

www.britannica.com

Academy, K. (2018). Osmosis and tonicity. Retrieved from www.khanacademy.com