Osmosis in Biology!! USING A potato........?

Question

ok ok...so this is the deal, the teacher gave us an experiment to do:
1)You have to peel and cut a potato in half,
2) dig a hole/cavity through it,
3)put it in a dish with water around it...and make a STRONG sugar solution and put it in the hole and
4)wait for 30 mins and see what happened.....


Well 1/3 of my class said the sugar solution in their cavity rose and had more solution in it..

The other 1/3 said that the sugar dissolved then the sugar solution in the potato decreased...

And the other 1/3..............NOTHING.... the potato turned purple!

What was suppose to happen and how is osmosis present there?

Answer 1

Here's what should have happened.

The sugar solution in the cavity is hypertonic to the potato cells. The sugar solution has a lower concentration of water than the water concentration inside the cells. Therefore, more water diffuses out of the cells (into the solution in the cavity) than the amount that diffuses from the sugar solution into the potato cells. The amount of liquid in the cavity should have increased.

The diffusion of water through a semipermeable membrane is osmosis, so osmosis is how water went from the inside of the potato cells to the little pool of sugar solution in the cavity.

Answer 2

Osmosis is the diffusion of water. So: Why do grocery shops spray their sparkling produce with water? this is so as that the water on the outdoors (the place there is way less solute) will pass into the produce the place there is extra solute. this could make the produce extra beneficial. this happens to realize equilibrium. If a shipwrecked group drank salt water, they could die. making use of your be attentive to-how of osmosis, clarify why. this is for an identical reason. they could have a intense concentration of solute interior them from ingesting salt water and it could all pass out of them to realize equilibrium. If a bowl of unpolluted strawberries is sprinkled with sugar, a jiffy later the strawberries would be lined with juice. clarify why this happens. - The sugar motives a intense concentration of solute outdoors of the stawberry and all the water interior strikes out. (back, for equilibrium.) this ought to help you with something of the questions.