Effect of osmosis in potato cells

[Chocolate05]

Effect of osmosis in potato cells

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Post by Chocolate05 » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:38 am

If the concentration of potato cell sap known to be 2% for example, what would you expect to happen if it was placed in a 2% salt solution?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[mith]

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Post by mith » Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:24 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmolality

[Cat]

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Post by Cat » Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:06 pm

No net movement, isotonic solution.

[mith]

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Post by mith » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:54 pm

Only if sap composition = salt solution composition.

[Cat]

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Post by Cat » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:33 am

Sorry mith, but that is not necessary. The question as stated does not make much sense: usually experiments that deal with osmosis on plants involve solutes that cannot pass the cell membrane (e.g. sorbitol). When sap cons. = solute cons., no net movement of solvent occurs (no matter what that solute is). In this case, solute is salt. It can increase membrane permeability and cause diffusion of substances from the sap and salt into the sap until new equilibrium is achieved. However, I do not think diffusion will affect osmosis on the whole (I might be wrong though, I never tried to measure osmosis and diffusion at the same time).

[biogeek02]

Re: Effect of osmosis in potato cells

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Post by biogeek02 » Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:34 pm

Hey check out http://www.bioinmotion.com for cool videos about osmosis!

[MrMistery]

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Post by MrMistery » Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:54 am

it's an issue of calculating water potential, which is mainly influenced by solute potential in this case. Since solute potential depends on the ionization constant of the solute, it does make a difference what molecules are dissolved. You don't need to have the same molecules, but when you add up their solute potentials they need to be the same in order to have no net movement.