Victor Desmedt

Finding out the approximate concentration of

salt in potato cubes using osmosis.
1) Design
Dependent Variable: The mass of the potato cube after the soaking in its environment.
Independent Variable: The concentration of NaCl in each beaker. The concentrations were:
0%, 15% (5.85g/ 100 ml), 25% (9.75g/ 100 ml), 50% (19.5g/ 100 ml), 75% (29.25g/100 ml),
80%(30g/100 ml)
Controlled Variable: The temperature, the pressure and the time of soaking of every trial was
kept constant and the experiment was conducted on the same day.
Research Question: What is the concentration of salt present in potatoes?
Hypothesis: When cooking potatoes a lot of salt is added in order not to have a bland taste
therefore, I think that the potato itself does not contain a lot of salt. I think that the potatoes I will
use (Nicola) will contain about 10%-15% salt.
Tools / Materials: I order to conduct this experiment I used; 6 200 ml beakers, a few potatoes,
a cutting board, a knife, distilled water, NaCl (salt), magnetic stirrers, a scale, biology
tongs/pliers.

Method:
Steps:
(a) Prepare 12 potato cubes that have approximately the same size. The smaller they are the
quicker osmosis will occur but I made mine about 1cm3 .
(b) Weigh the pieces by groups of 2 and note their mass.

(c) Prepare 5 beakers of 250 ml of distilled water with different concentration of NaCl (0%, 15%,
25%, 50%, 75%, 80%). In order to prepare the 50% concentration, mix 125g of salt to 125 ml of
distilled water.
(d) Place all the cubes in their respective beakers.
(e) Leave the potato cubes over the weekend, take them out, by groups, weigh them and note
their mass
(f) Calculate the percentage increase in mass in each case

2) Data collection and processing

Here is the data collected in my experiment:

0%

1st mass
2nd mass
Increase in mass
Percentage increase in
mass

10.5g +/0.1g
11.9g +/0.1g
1.4g
+/- 0.2g
13.3%
+/- 2%

15%
(5.85g/
100 ml)
11.1g +/0.1g
10.0g +/0.1g
-1.1g +/0.2g
-10.1% +/2%

25%
(9.75g/
100 ml)
9.1g
+/- 0.1g
8.4g
+/- 0.1g
-0.7g
+/- 0.2g
-7.7%
+/- 2%

50%
(19.5g/
100 ml)
8.9g
+/- 0.1g
8.8g
+/- 0.1g
-0.1g +/0.2g
-1.2%
+/- 2%

75%
(29.25g/
100 ml)
10.9g
+/- 0.1g
10.7g
+/- 0.1g
-0.2g +/0.2g
-1.9%
+/- 2%

80%
(30g/
100 ml)
12.2g
+/- 0.1g
11.9g
+/- 0.1g
-0.3g
+/- 0.2g
-2.5%
+/- 2%

From that graph, we can see that in a 0% NaCl solution, the potato cubes mass got higher while
in every other it got smaller. This tells us that in order to get more precise results, a second
experiment should be done with values between 0% and 15%.
Here is a graph of the processed data in order to see the results in a better way:

Data analysis:
Unfortunately, there is not a lot to analyze in my data, I will talk about why in the 3rd part of my
lab report. The only conclusion we can draw from the data I recorded is that the potato I used
contains between 0 and 15% of salt. This is a very wide range of possibilities that should
definitely be researched more.

3) Conclusion and evaluation:

Conclusion: The aim of the experiment was to find out the percentage of salt present in
potatoes. Unfortunately, I did not achieve the aim. The gap of 15% is just too wide to be able to
tell the exact percentage of salt in the potatoes. This is a shame as, if more precise, the
experiment would have been highly conclusive and valid. However, I learnt a crucial lesson
during the experiment. I understood how crucial background research was to an experiment and
that a precise range of data to measure must be chosen before actually realizing the
experiment.

Evaluation: In my opinion, the experiment is valid. By making sure to keep all my controlled
variables constant, I reduced significantly the chance of random error. The fact that I did not do
my background research as thoroughly as I could have done, and have done in the past, greatly
penalized my results. I am highly disappointed in myself as the experiment was well thought
through. If I had chosen more precise percentages of salt to measure I am positive that I would
have gotten conclusive and relevant results.
Improvements: As stated above, if I had done my research more thoroughly, I would have
gotten better results. Other than that, the only element I could see being improved in my
experiment is the fact that I could have cut smaller cubes but all coming from the same potato.
Because the potatoes are all genetically different, a slight change in their salt concentration
might occur. Therefore, cutting cubes from one potato would provide better results.