Experiment 3.

4: Determining the concentration of an external solution which is isotonic to

the cell sap of plant

Aim:
To determine the concentration of an external solution which is isotonic to the plant cell sap.

Problem statement:
What is the concentration of an external solution which is isotonic to the cell sap of a plant cells?

Hypothesis:
When the external solution is isotonic to the cell sap of plant cells, there is no net gain in size of
plant cells.

Variables:
 Manipulated variable: Concentration of sucrose solution.
 Responding variable: Length of potato strips
 Fixed variables: Time

Materials:
A freshly cut potato, distilled water, 0.1 M, 0.2 M, 0.3 M, 0.4 M, 0.5 M and 0.6 M sucrose
solution.

Apparatus:
A razor blade or a sharp scalpel, a cork borer, Petri dishes, forceps, a ruler, 50ml beaker, ruler,
and tissue paper.

Technique:
Measuring the mass of potato strips with a ruler and determining the difference in length.

Procedure:
1. Seven Petri dishes were prepared and labelled A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
2. Each beaker was filled respectively with the following solutions:

Petri dish A: Distilled water

Petri dish B: 0.1 M sucrose solution
Petri dish C: 0.2 M sucrose solution
Petri dish D: 0.3 M sucrose solution
Petri dish E: 0.4 M sucrose solution
Petri dish F: 0.5 M sucrose solution
Petri dish G: 0.6 M sucrose solution
3. A cork borer was used to bore 21 potato cylindrical strips. Each strip was cut to a length
of 5 cm.
4. Three strips were placed in each beaker and left for an hour.
5. After 1 hour the strips were removed. The potato strips were wiped dry and the length of
each strip were measured. Measurement were recorded.
 6. A graph of the elongation of the potato strips against the concentrations of sucrose
solution was plotted.

Results:
Concentration of Length of the potato strip (cm) Texture
Change in length
sucrose solution Petri dish and
Initial mean Final mean (cm)
(M) appearance
length length
0.0 A 5.03 5.88 +0.85 Firm
0.1 B 5.00 5.70 +0.70 Firm
0.2 C 5.00 5.50 +0.50 Firm
0.3 D 5.03 5.23 +0.20 Firm
0.4 E 5.00 5.10 +0.10 Firm
0.5 F 5.00 4.90 -0.10 Soft
0.6 G 5.03 4.70 -0.33 Soft

Percentage difference in the mass of potato strips

against the concentration of sucrose solution

40
percentage difference

30
20
in mass (%)

10
0
-10 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

-20
-30
concentration of sucrose solution (M)

Discussion:
1. The solutions in Petri dishes A to E are hypotonic to the cell sap of the strips of potato.
Water diffuses into the cells by osmosis. This causes the length of the strips of potato to
increase.
2. The point where the graph cut 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 (0.43 M) at this point is isotonic to the cell sap of the plant tissue. Therefore, the
concentration of the cell sap of the strips of potato is isotonic to 0.43 M sucrose solution.

Conclusions:
The concentration of the external solution which is isotonic to the cell sap of the potato tissue is
0.43 M. The hypothesis is accepted.