In a high concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sugar) is low. This could be called a weak or dilute solution. In a low concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sucrose) is high. This could be called a strong or concentrated solution. When two such solutions are divided by a semi-permeable membrane the water will move from the area of high concentration to the area of low concentration, until both sides are equal (have reached equilibrium).

Knowing that osmosis will occur across a semi-permeable membrane whenever there is a difference between the water concentrations on the two sides of the membrane, and knowing that when this happens to cells they will either become turgid if water flows into them, or plasmolysed if water flows out of them, and thus change their volume, we want to test the hypothesis that:

If the concentration of a solution into which a cylinder of potato is placed is greater than a certain level the cylinder will loose mass, and if the concentration is less than that level it wil

The results show that, in accordance with our hypothesis, the cylinders will expand when external solute concentration is low (high water concentration), and contract in strong solutions (low water concentration). This is due to osmosis, where water passes from weak solutions to strong solutions across a semi-permeable membrane, such as a cell membrane. The graphs of % change against solution strength show that the results tend to form a curve, crossing the x-axis.

Some topics in this essay:
Prediction Osmosis, Solution Average, water concentration, concentration water, low water, low water concentration, sucrose solution, potato cells, semi-permeable membrane, weight cylinders, length volume mass, length volume, cell membrane, water move, concentration water amount, average weight cylinders, water amount solute,