1. Felix Dyrek
Biological Investigation: Osmosis
Introduction:
The experiment was made in order to check how osmosis occurs in food when its placed in
different types of solutions.In my case what was used were carrots and potatos.
Research Question:
How will different solutions affect the osmosis of carrots and potatos ?
Hypothesis:
When we put slices of carrots and potatos seperated in two different solutions like destilated
water,vinigar, and water with 10% and 20% salt concentration,the carrots and potatoes will gain
water in the destilated water but they will loose it in the concentration of salt and the vingar.The
amount of it will stay the same.
Hypothesis Explanation:
The carrots and potatoes will gain water + mass because the concentration of water will have a
higer mass than in the cells of the slices.Its a hypotonic solution.In the waters which are salt
concentrated the slices will loose water + mass because the salt water is lower concentrated than
in the cells of the slices.It is a hypertonic solution.In the vinegar the concentration of water stays
more or less the same as the slices so its isotonic solution.
Compounds:
1 small potatoe
1 carrot
400 ml water
100 ml 10% white vinegar
30 gr salt

2. Variables:
Dependent
solution in which the slices are put in %
mass of the slices gr
independent
Apparatus :
4 beakers
4 Petri dishes
1 scale
1 baguette
1 cylinder volume
1 timer
1 knife
1.We cut the potatoe and the carrots in small slices on the cutting board.Then weight out 12 gr
of potatoe slices and also 12 gr of carrots slices.In each of the four Petri dishes are 12 gr of
potatoe and carrots.
2.The next step is to prepare the solutions in which the carrots and potatoes will be dipped
in.For one solution:The graduated cylinder we measure 90 mL of water and poud it into a
beaker.Then we add 10 gr salt to it.The next step is to mix it with the baguette until the salt
dissolves.The water we have now has a concentration of 10% salt.We repeat the step and use
another beaker where we are mixing 80 mL of water with 20 gr salt to recieve a 20% salt
conventration.
3.In the first Petri dish we fill 100ml destillated.
In the second Petri dish we fill 100ml of vinegar.
In the third we will 100ml of 10% concentrated salt water .
In the fourth we fill 100ml of the 20% concentrated salt water.
We let the potatoe and the carrot slices for 30 minutes soaking in the soluitons.

3. 4.After 30 minutes we take the carrot and potato slices out of their Petri dishesThen weigh each
group, carrots and potatoes separately. Record these measurements, observing if their mass has
either increased or decreased.
5.Design a chart and transfer your results onto that chart. Then draw a graph displaying your
results.

4. Data Collection & Processing
(raw data on attached paper)
Solution [100mL] Vegetable Mass at Mass after 30 Observations
start [g] minutes [g]
Distilled water potato 12 13.1 Both vegetables became very stiff
carrot 12 13.0
Salt water (10% potato 12 10.3 Both vegetables became soft & flexible
concentration)
carrot 12 11.3
Salt water (20% potato 12 10.2 Both vegetables more soft & flexible than
concentration) vinegar
carrot 12 10.4
Vinegar potato 12 11.6 Both vegetables very soft & flexible, wilted
carrot 12 11.9
Table 1: Results and observations of the experiment
Graph
1: Comparison between solutions and the mass of vegetables

5. Conclusion & Evaluation
From these results, we can sum up that my hypothesis is accurate. In the distilled water, the mass
of the carrot and potato slices increased, making the distilled water a hypotonic solution. In the
salt water (both 10% and 20% concentration), the mass decreased, which means it was a
hypertonic solution. The mass of the slices in the vinegar barely changed at all, but the mass did
in fact decrease slightly, so the vinegar should be regarded as a hypertonic solution.
However, in must be taken into consideration that this experiment could've been carried out more
correctly. It can be noticed that in the distilled water, the mass of the potato slices was 13.1g and
the carrot slices was 13.0g, which is a very small difference - but the potato slices were still
heavier. On the other hand, in the rest of the solutions, the carrot slices were heavier than the
ones of the potato after osmosis (see Table 1 and Graph 1). If we were to to base the final
conclusion on these results, then it would be that when it comes to gaining water during osmosis,
potatoes gain more water than carrots, and when it comes to losing water, then carrots are more
likely to lose a greater amount of water. This could possibly have something to do with the
different structure, thickness and texture of each vegetable. Or it could mean an error occurred
and the slices weren't weighed correctly, which is more probable, as the conclusion isn't 100%
clear.
Nevertheless, osmosis definitely occurred in each of the samples, because it was also observed
how the slices of the potatoes and carrots changed their appearance and feel during the
experiment (see Table 1). The slices in the distilled water were very stiff and very hard to break
in half. In the vinegar, the slices stayed more or less the same, except that they were maybe a bit
more flexible than before they were placed in the vinegar. In the salt solutions, the potato and
carrot slices were noticeably more flexible than before they were put in the solutions – in the
solution with the 20% concentration of salt, the slices were so bendable that they were slightly
wilted, and the edges had started to fold up. We can conclude that the general aim of the
experiment was reached, as the osmosis of carrot and potato slices in different solutions was
successfully observed.
Felix Dyrek