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Biology practical

Osmosis in potato

Soak potato cylinders in six sucrose solutions, find the percentage change in mass, and read the isotonic point off your graph.

What you will do

  1. 01Cut potato cylinders with a cork borer and blot them dry.
  2. 02Weigh each cylinder on the balance and put it in a tube of sucrose solution, 0.0 to 1.0 mol/dm³.
  3. 03Leave them all for the same time, at least 30 minutes.
  4. 04Take them out, blot them dry and weigh them again.
  5. 05Tabulate the masses, the change in mass and the percentage change.
  6. 06Plot percentage change against concentration and find where your line crosses zero.