SAMPLE 1 - OSMOSIS

1.

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of different concentration of sucrose
solution on potato discs.
The following steps were carried out.
Step 1 : A cork borer was used to obtain 50 potato discs of uniformed size.
Step 2 : The potato discs were divided into 5 groups, P,Q, R, S and T. Each group
contains 10 potato discs which were placed in five different petri dishes.
Step 3 : Distilled water and sucrose solution with different concentration was poured into
each petri dish as shown in Table 1.
Group

Solution

Distilled water

0.2 mol dm-3 sucrose solution

0.4 mol dm-3 sucrose solution

0.6 mol dm-3 sucrose solution

0.8 mol dm-3 sucrose solution

Table 1

Step 4 : The length of each group of potato strip was measured before the immersion
by arranging the discs on a callibrated cardboard as shown in Diagram 1.

Diagram 1
Step 5 : The potato discs were then immersed in each solution for 30 minutes. After 30
minutes, the discs were then arranged on the callibrated cardboard.

Table 2 shows the results of this experiment.

Concentration
of solution
(mol dm-3)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Length of 10 discs after immersion for 30 minutes / cm

cm
0 1

83

10

11

12

cm
0 1

83

10

11

12

cm
0 1

83

10

11

12

cm
0 1

83

10

11

12

cm
0 1

83

10

11

12

Table 2
a.

(i)

State two different observations made from Table 2.

1

.................
.................

.................
.................
[3 marks]

(ii)

State the inference which corresponds to the observations in 1(a)(i).

Inference from observation 1 :
.................
Inference from observation 2 : .
.................
[3 marks]

b.
c.

Record the length of potato discs after 30 minutes immersion in the boxes provided in
Table 2.
[3 marks]
Complete Table 3 based on this experiment.
Variable
Manipulated variable

Method to handle the variable

..

..

..

Responding variable
.....

..

..

Constant variable
.....

..

..

.
Table 3
[3 marks]

d.

State the hypothesis for this experiment.

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
[3 marks]

e.

(i)

Construct a table and record all the data collected in this experiment. Your table
should have the following titles :
Concentration of sucrose solution
Length of 10 discs before 30 minutes immersion
Length of 10 discs after 30 minutes immersion
Change in length

[3 marks]
(ii)

Use the graph paper provided on page 5 to answer this part of the question. Using
the data in e(i), draw the graph of change in length against concentration of
sucrose solution.
[3 marks]

Graph of change in length of potato discs against concentration of sucrose solution.

f.

Based on the graph in e(ii), explain the relationship between the concentration of
sucrose solution to the change in length of potato discs.
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[3 marks]

g.

If the experiment is repeated using potato discs of the same diameter but different
thickness. Predict the change in diameter of the potato discs. Explain your prediction.
............................................................................................................................................
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[3 marks]

h.

Based on the result from this experiment, what can be deduced about osmosis ?
............................................................................................................................................
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[3 marks]

i.

Another student wishes to investigate the movement of substances across the plasma
membrane. He is provided with the following materials :

Visking tubing
Egg shell
Cellophane tape
Muslin cloth
Plastic

Classify the materials above according to its permeability.

[3 marks]