The purpose of this study is to see the effects of diffusion through a selectively permeable membrane placed in a sucrose solution. This experiment is a model of how diffusion occurs. Dialysis Tubing is a permeable membrane with which diffusion occurs. Since the cells are so small, this experiment sets up a model in which diffusion can be seen and recorded. My hypothesis is that sugar solutions are more contractile doing a greater amount of osmosis.
As a test, each dialysis tubing is tied at the bottom and filled with a sugar solution. Bag A and Bag B are both filled with 10 mL of 1% sucrose solution. Bag C is filled with 10 mL of 25% sucrose solution and Bag D is filled with 10 mL of 50% sucrose solution. Each bag had all the air expelled from it and blocked the open end. Each bag was also labeled with a piece of tape attached to a piece of dental floss to seal each bag so as not to mix them up. The centuries were then weighed and the weight recorded. Afterwards, Bag A was placed in a 50% sucrose solution and Bags B, C and D were all placed in a 1% sucrose solution. After all the bags were placed in the observation solutions, the weight changes were recorded at fifteen minute intervals from the start time and the weight change.
When the test was done, Bag A was the only bag to have a drastic weight decrease. The initial weight of bag A was 11.2 pounds and the final weight was 5.9 pounds after sixty minutes full. Bag B was light sister’s weight, from the beginning 11.8 P. had a weight of 11.2 P. On the other hand, Bag C and D are each bag weight going over time with Bag C. 11.8 P. and up to 13.5 P. Bag weight D’started at 13.2 P. and finished up to 17.5 P. Tables representing the changes can be found attached at the end of this report.
From the results obtained, the sucrose solutions seemed to be less likely to attract water to it. This supports my hypothesis and also shows that sucrose is also a hypertonic solution when more water is introduced into the solution than out of it. Bag A conducts a stronger force outside its membrane, which causes the sucrose from the outside to draw water out of the dialysis tubing and into the solution in the bowl. The bags of D are of the greatest weight at the end, mainly due to the fact that they also contained the highest percentage of solution inside the membrane. The weight of bag B was little changed because of the low concentration of sucrose in the bag and in the solution outside the bag. Since Sacs C and D had higher concentrations, they draw more water out of solution and into the membranes. If Bag B were to be present in the solution of Bag A, it would more than likely have the same effect that Bag A had.
This can be applied in the real world with people who suffer from droughts. By raising the sugar levels in their body, they are more likely to take more water into their cells. One thing that could be tried in future experiments is to add additional solutions to the experiments that would simulate more of the internal human cell system. By adding more substances, there can be a chance to see how osmosis can really look in the body.
