Activity 3.

6
Determining the concentration of an external solution which is isotonic to the
cell sap of a plant
To study the concentration of an external solution which in isotonic to the cell
Objective
sap of a plant.
Problem What is the concentration of an external solution which is isotonic to the cell
statement sap?
The concentration of the solution which is isotonic to the cell sap of plant cells
Hypothesis
is 0.43 M (reading is according to your graph)
Manipulated variable:
Concentration of sucrose solution
Title

Variables

Materials
and
apparatus
Procedure:

Responding variable:
Length of potato strip
Constant variable:
Temperature
Potato, distilled water, sucrose solution, knife, cork borer, petri dish, forceps,
ruler, beaker, filter paper
*you can get the procedure from Biology Practical textbook, reference book or
internet.

Results
Solution
Distilled
water
0.1 M
sucrose
solution
0.2 M
sucrose
solution
0.3 M
sucrose
solution
0.4 M
sucrose
solution
0.5 M
sucrose
solution
0.6 M

Petri
dish
A
B

F
G

Length of potato strip (cm)

Initial
Final
Mean
length
length
length

Percentage
difference in length
(%)

sucrose
solution
*data are according to your result
*draw a graph of percentage difference in the length of potato strips against the
concentration of sucrose solution
1. What is the texture and appearance of the potato strips after being immersed
in the various concentrations of sucrose solution?
From petri dish A to E, texture of potato strips are firm and turgid. While in
petri dish F and G, potato strips are soft.
2. What do the axes on your graph represent?
X-axis represents concentration of sucrose solution. Y-axis represents
percentage difference in length.
3. How do you determine the concentration of sucrose solution which is
isotonic to the cell sap of the potato from your graph?
The point where the graph cuts the x-axis indicates that there is no
difference in the percentage of the length of the potato strip. This means
that the concentration of sucrose solution (your reading from graph; ex:
Discussion
0.43M) at this point is isotonic to the cell sap of the plant tissue. Therefore,
the concentration of the cell sap of the potato strips is isotonic to 0.43 M
sucrose solution.
4. Based on the experiment, discuss the process of osmosis in the various
concentrations of sucrose solutions.
If the solution is hypotonic to the concentration of cell sap, then water
diffuses into the potato cells by osmosis.
If the solution is hypertonic to the concentration of cell sap, then water
diffuses out the potato cells by osmosis.
If the solution is isotonic to the concentration of cell sap, then the rate of
water movement in and out of the cell is same. The cell maintains their
normal appearance.
Conclusio
n

Based on the graph, the concentration of the solution which is isotonic to the
cell sap of plant cells is 0.43 M (your result).