Aim:

To investigate whether osmosis occurs across the membrane of potato cells, and if so, how the concentration of sugar in solution affects the rate of osmosis between the solution and a potato piece of a given size.

Background Knowledge:

Osmosis are semi-permeable membranes, which are very thin layers of material, which allow some things to pass through them but prevent other things from passing through.

Cell membranes will allow small molecules like Oxygen, water, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia, Glucose, amino acids to pass through. Cell membranes will not allow larger molecules like Sucrose, Starch and protein, to pass through.

A region of high concentration of water is either a very dilute solution of something like sucrose or pure water. In each case there is a lot of water: there is a high concentration of water.

Osmosis is the passage of water from a dilute solution through a semi-permeable...