Topic > Osmosis as a phenomenon in life-preserving functions

Osmosis (the transport of a solvent from a lower concentration to a higher concentration across a semipermeable membrane) is a fundamental concept in the study of biology and provides the means main through which water is transported into and out of cells. The importance of this phenomenon lies in the large number of life-preserving functions it performs. Examples of this are preserving fruit and meat, assisting plants in receiving water, and analyzing kidneys. Plants like watermelon depend on the phenomenon of osmosis to carry out daily activities. An example would be the transport of water from plant roots to leaves. Therefore, after studying the uses of this phenomenon, I began to wonder whether it affects important characteristics of plant tissues such as their mass. The reason why, after careful consideration, watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) was chosen as the primary plant to study the effects of osmosis on plant tissue mass is that it has three distinctive parts. It would therefore be interesting to find out whether the trend would be the same in all three parts or whether the mass of each part would be affected differently by osmosis. Additionally, I chose watermelon for the wide range of life-saving functions it has. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay More specifically, not only is it helpful for quenching thirst, but it can also be helpful in stopping inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, diabetes, and colon cancer. To carry out my experiment more effectively, I decided to perform osmosis experiments on all three different parts of the watermelon. The reason for this is that the tissues of watermelon parts vary in size, thickness and mass and would allow me to conduct a much larger and more diverse study on the rate of osmosis in watermelons. The sucrose concentrations were chosen based on the optimal amount of sucrose that a watermelon usually has. After deducing the optimum, I decided to include 2 smaller and 2 larger concentrations. This would help me more confidently determine the impact of the osmosis phenomenon in watermelon tissues, since the range of data would be wider. Research question: How does the phenomenon of osmosis affect the tissue mass of different parts of watermelon after their immersion in sucrose solutions of different concentrations? Water temperature All beakers containing watermelon tissues immersed in concentrations of sucrose were left in an air-conditioned room for a period of 4 hours set at a temperature of 22°C, which was monitored hourly to ensure it remained constant . Volume of water: 400 cm3 The 400 cm3 of water was measured from the same graduated cylinder Room temperature The experiment took place in an air-conditioned room for a period of 4 hours set at a temperature of 22°C, monitored every hour for ensure that it remained constant Immersion time (Duration): 4 hours The exact immersion time (4 hours) was maintained by using the same watch throughout the experiment Size and shape of the watermelon handkerchiefs Each watermelon handkerchief was cut to size same length (3cm) (measured using the same ruler) then weighed (on the same scale with new pieces of paper towel replaced each time) to ensure they weighed the same Watermelon Source All watermelon handkerchiefs come from the same watermelon Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a custom essay Materials1) 1 and a half watermelon2) 1 volumetric cylinder3)).