How do different sugar solutions effect osmosis in a potato chip?

Essay by wazapeeHigh School, 11th grade June 2006

download word file, 16 pages 3.0

Osmosis is a type of passive transport. This means that it is a process that does not need any energy to take place.

Partially permeable membranes (or sometimes called semi-permeable membranes) are very thin layers of material that allow certain things to pass through it while preventing other things from passing through.

An area of high water concentration is a dilute solution of the substance added to it to water to alter its concentration

An area of low concentration of water is a concentrated solution of the substance added to it to alter its concentration.

Therefore, Osmosis is a name used to describe the movement of water from an area of high water concentration to an area of low water concentration through a partially permeable membrane or in terms of the solute, Osmosis is a name used to describe the movement of water from an area of low concentration to a high concentration through a partially permeable membrane.

Osmosis can take place in three types of solutions.

1. Isotonic Solution:

2. Hypotonic Solution:

3. Hypertonic Solution:

Facilitated Osmosis

Some solute molecules that are soluble in water cannot pass through the semi-permeable membrane because when they dissolve in the water, their molecule sizes become bigger so they are transported across the membrane by carrier proteins. A carrier protein will be embedded into the membrane and when these molecules come into contact with these proteins, the proteins changed shape and the molecules pass through and come out on the other side of the membrane.

Diffusion

Diffusion is also a type of passive transport so this also doesn't require any energy to take place. Diffusion is the spreading of certain particles across an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. It doesn't involve a membrane and diffusion can happen...