Osmosis: Concentration Gradient Essay

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The movement of water molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration is commonly known as osmosis. Osmosis is one of the processes that allow materials to move either in or out of an organism or within it. In order for osmosis to occur, there needs to be a semi permeable membrane for the water molecules to pass through. Semi permeability refers to the ability of a membrane to partially allow water to pass through it. Osmosis depends on energy generated by differences in concentration of substances on both sides of the membrane, which is known as concentration gradient. Along with concentration gradient, factors such as temperature and particle size can affect the rate of osmosis. An experiment will be conducted to see what the effect of concentration gradient has on the rate of osmosis. In this experiment, five bags will be filled to act as “cells”. Cell one will be filled with tap water, cell two with 20% sucrose, cell 3 with 40% sucrose, and cell four with 60% sucrose. Each of these bags will be fully submerged in a beaker of tap water of the same temperature. The relationship between the solute’s concentration outside or inside of the cell is the tonicity of the solution. Cell one is an isotonic solution because the solute is equally concentrated on both sides of the cell, meaning the water moves both ways across the membrane. When the water does not move both ways across the membrane and only moves into the cell that means it is hypotonic because the solute is more concentrated inside the cell. This is the case for cells two, three, and four. Then, a fifth cell is filled to serve as a control. Tap water is placed in the cell and the cell is fully

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