Abstract: The rate of osmosis was examined through an experiment. Dialysis tubes were used to simulate a cell membrane. Solutions of 0.20 % and 0.40% sucrose were placed in each tube. The bags were placed into water and let to sit for three intervals of fifteen minutes. In the first bag that had no sugar solution, it had an osmosis rate of -.04 g/min. In the second bag that had 20 percent sugar solution, it had an osmosis rate of .09 g/min and the bag that had 40 percent of sugar solution had an osmosis rate of .11 g/min. What was concluded from the results is that the more percent of sucrose solution, the higher the rate of osmosis will occur and the lower the percentage of sucrose solution, the lower the rate of osmosis.
Introduction:
In order to understand the process of osmosis, proper terms must be defined. The first term was osmosis itself, osmosis is defined as the passive transport that refers to the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane (Reece, 2009). Then of course, there are three different cases of osmosis which were defined. Hypertonic is a solution with a higher solute concentration. Hypotonic is a solution with a lower solute concentration. Isotonic is when the cells solute concentration is equal. The volumes were all made possible to increase or decrease via the plasma membrane, the plasma membrane defined as a flexible boundary between the living cell and its surrounding (Reece,2009) The dialysis tube represents the plasma membrane and it was understood that the bag that had shriveled had a lower solute concentration and likewise, the bags which increased in mass had a higher solute concentration. Finally, the bag which remained relatively the same represented an isotonic environment. The hypothesis was as follows: If there is more percent sucrose solution, the higher the rate of osmosis will occur and if the sucrose