LAB EXERCISE: Diffusion and Osmosis
Laboratory Objectives
After completing this lab topic, you should be able to:
1. Describe the mechanism of diffusion at the molecular level.
2. List several factors that influence the rate of diffusion.
3. Explain why diffusion is important to cells.
4. Describe a selectively permeable membrane, and explain its role in osmosis.
5. Define hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic in terms of relative concentrations of osmotically active substances.
6. Discuss the influence of the cell wall on osmotic behavior in cells.
7. Explain how incubation plant tissues in a series of dilutions of sucrose can give an approximate measurement of osmolarity of tissue cells.
8. Explain why osmosis is
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When the solutions are isotonic, there is no net flow of water across the membrane.
The concept of osmotic pressure must be understood when studying osmosis. The movement of water from a hypotonic solution through the membrane into a hypertonic solution can be prevented by applying force or pressure on the hypertonic side. The force that must be applied to prevent osmotic movement of water from hypotonic to hypertonic, measured in atmospheres, is referred to as osmotic pressure. Solutions with greater concentrations of OAS have greater osmotic pressures because greater force is required to prevent water movement into them. Distilled water has an osmotic pressure of zero.
EXERCISE 1. Diffusion of Molecules Through a Selectively Permeable Membrane
Materials string or rubber band 500 – mL beaker one-third filled water sharpie handheld test tube holder
30 % glucose solution 3 standard test tubes starch solution disposable transfer pipettes
I2KI solution 2 400 – mL beakers to hold dialysis bag
Benedict’s reagent 30 – cm strip of moist dialysis tubing hot plate
Introduction
Dialysis tubing is a membrane made of regenerated cellulose fibers formed into a flat tube. If two solutions containing dissolved substances of different molecular weights are separated by this membrane, some substances may readily pass through the pores of the membrane, but others may be excluded.
Working in groups of four students, you will
8. What type of membrane does the dialysis tubing represent? Give an example of this type of
2. Explain your observations in detail in terms of concentration gradient, diffusion, osmosis, osmotic pressure, passive transport, and active transport.
If the solution in the left beaker contained both urea and albumin, which membrane(s) could you choose to selectively remove the urea from the solution in the left beaker? How would you carry out this experiment?
I obtained the results from the experiment supported my predictions because as the the concentration Na+ Cl- was increased from 5 mM to 10 mM (by adding more Na+ Cl-), the osmotic pressure also increased. However, after the membrane was changed to 50 MWCO, the Na+ Cl- molecules could diffuse easily through the membrane and did not caused an increase in osmotic pressure.
As the lab introduction explains, osmosis is relatively permeable to water and will follow solutes. By instinct, the water will move from a more diluted solution to more of a concentrated solution. The products of the experiments concluded the physiological significance of osmosis by how cell membranes in the body are semipermeable meaning that only certain molecules can pass through it. When intracellular fluid and extracellular fluid are at equilibrium by non-penetrating and concentrated solutes, no net movement of water goes in and out of the cell. Furthermore, if the ECF changes in osmolality, then depending on the difference between the ECF and ICF will determine whether water moves in or out of the cell. This is important in the cell membrane as small differences in osmolarity correspond to large, rapid change in osmotic pressure, causing cells to gain or lose water. In sum, our body makes critical decisions in what molecules are allowed to penetrate the cell membrane and make sure that our red blood cells don’t cause any problems within the
Osmosis is a natural occurrence constantly happening within the cells of all living things. For osmosis to occur, water molecules must move across a semipermeable membrane from an area of low concentration to an are of high concentration. In order to understand osmosis, people must understand the different types of concentrations that can be present within solution. One of them is an Isotonic solution where the concentration of dissolved particles is equal to that of a cell’s. Another is a hypertonic solution where there is a higher concentration of dissolved particles then inside the cell. And lastly there is a hypotonic solution where there are less dissolved particles than inside the cell. As dissolved particles move to a region of lower concentration, water moves the opposite direction as a result of there being less water in the highly concentrated region. In this experiment, gummy bears were placed in salt water, sugar water, and tap water to find the measure of osmosis between the solution and gummy bear.
Osmosis is described in one of three ways when comparing more than one solution. The cell’s external and internal environment helps determine tonicity, which is defined as how the cell reacts to its environment. When the cell’s environment is equal in osmolarity to itself and there is no change, it is considered an isotonic solution. When the environment has a higher osmolarity, shrinkage occurs and it is considered a hypertonic solution. When the environment has a lower osmolarity, swellings occurs and it is considered hypotonic.
We know that water will move through a membrane from more free water to less free water. The higher the solute concentration is, the less free water there is. All of the sucrose solutions are being put in pure water, but the ones with the most sucrose will need the most water to diffuse inside and bring the free water levels to equilibrium, and the ones with less will need less water to diffuse.
Aim: To investigate how effect of Detergent Concentration (cont.) has on Membrane permeability of Beetroot cells. Hypothesis: I predict that as detergent concentration increases, the solution will become less clear, plus mass increases. The increases in mass will indicate that the water potential of the Beetroot cell is lower than that of the surrounding sucrose solution. The Beetroot discs will become flaccid and decrease in mass if the water potential of the surrounding solution is lower than the water potential inside the beetroot cell.
Table 1 shows the contents of the bags and the content of the concentration it was submersed in. Bags 2-4 each contain a solution of both sucrose and water. These bags were each put into beakers containing hypertonic solution. These bags gained weight over time because the water moved from its high concentration inside the beaker to the low concentration inside the membrane of the artificial cell, the membrane being the bags that consisted of dialysis tubing. The
In this experiment, we will investigate the effect of solute concentration on osmosis. A semi‐permeable membrane (dialysis tubing) and sucrose will create an osmotic environment similar to that of a cell. Using different concentrations of sucrose (which is unable to cross the membrane) will allow us to examine the net movement of water across the membrane.
The difference is that along with large molecules, living cells prevent molecules with positive charges and solubility. This is not representing in dialysis tubing, and is only found in living cells because the tubing is only based on molecular size (98). When referring the rate of diffusion, the concentration gradient influences the diffusion rate, based on the factors of temperature. The ability for molecules diffuse from high to low concentrations primarily depends on the concentration gradient between the two areas.(96-99). My hypothesis for the study is that in the hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic solutions, the direction and rate of osmosis will determine based on the concentration inside the dialysis tubing. My prediction is that if the solution is hypotonic the results will decrease, if the solution is hypertonic the results will increase and if the solution is isotonic the solution will vary and or remain constant.
Exercise 1: Cell Transport Mechanisms and Permeability: Activity 3: Simulating Osmotic Pressure Lab Report Pre-lab Quiz Results You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly. 1. Which of the following is true of osmosis? You correctly answered: c. It is a type of diffusion. 2. Which of the following occurs when a hypertonic solution is added to cells? You correctly answered: d. The cells shrink. 3. The variable that affects osmotic pressure is You correctly answered: a. the concentration of nondiffusing solutes. 4. The net movement of water would be into the cell in a You correctly answered: b. hypotonic solution.
Ultra filtration: Ultra filtration results when there is an osmotic gradient or pressure gradient across the membrane. In PD excess fluid is removed by increasing the osmolality of the dialysate with the addition of glucose. In HD , the gradient is created by increasing pressure in the blood compartment(positive pressure)t ore decreasing pressure in the dialysate compartment(negative pressure). Extracellular fluid moves in to the dialysate because of the pressure gradient. The excess fluid is removed by creating a pressure differential between the blood and the dialysate solution.
When the membrane prevents the particles to pass through, only water will travel by the process of osmosis, and causes a difference in volume of the compartments of the membranes on both sides (Elaine and Mitchell 2015). The process when a cell changes its shape due to a solution is called tonicity. It takes place in three different processes, which is isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic. In isotonic solution the solution has the same concentration of water, and solute is the same on the inside and out of the cell. Its shape stays the same, and does not takes in or gives out water at all.