1. Diffusion and Osmosis AP Bio Lab
Getting started

2. Preparing for the Investigation
What is kinetic energy, and how does it differ from potential energy?

3. Kinetic energy – energy of movement it has a magnitude, but not a direction, is always positive
Potential energy – energy stored in an object, This energy has the potential to do work. Gravity gives potential energy to an object. This potential energy is a result of gravity pulling downwards.

4. What environmental factors affect kinetic energy and potential energy?

5. Several factors affect how fast a molecule will diffuse
Kinetic energy of the molecule, measured as the temperature of the system.
Size of the molecule also affects how rapidly it will diffuse.
Charges on the molecule (positive or negative)
Nature of the material that the molecules are moving through

6. Temperature Size of the molecule
Molecules in a system at a higher temperature will have more energy and will move faster, and hence diffuse faster, than molecules of the same type in a low-temperature system.
Size of the molecule
At the same temperature, smaller molecules will move more rapidly than larger molecules because it takes more energy to get the larger molecule moving

7. Charges on the molecule
Negative or positive ions usually move through some type of transport protein
Nature of the material
Hypoosmotic – solution has a lower osmotic pressure than a second solution
Hyperosmotic – solution has a higher osmotic pressure than a second solution
Isoosmotic – solution has an equal osmotic pressure to a second solution

8. Osmotic pressure and tonicity often are confusing to people
Osmotic pressure is the pressure of a solution against a semipermeable membrane to prevent water from flowing inward across the membrane
Tonicity is the measure of this pressure
If the concentration of solutes on both sides of the membrane is equal, then there is no tendency for water to move across the membrane and no osmotic pressure.

9. How and why do these factors affect rates?

10. Warmth speeds up movement across a membrane
Large molecules need energy and transport proteins to transport molecules across a membrane
Negative and positive charges require transport membranes to move across a membrane
Large molecules require energy and the processes exocytosis and endocytosis

11. Why are gradients important in diffusion and osmosis?

12. Why are gradients important in diffusion and osmosis?

13. Diffusion and osmosis generally occur as passive transport (using no energy) moving from a high to a low concentration gradient
Moving solutes from a low to high concentration gradient requires energy from ATP

14. What is the explanation for the fact that most cells are small and have cell membranes with many convolutions?

15. Many convolutions Large surface area Most cells are small
Most cells are relatively small due to reliance on diffusion of substances in and out of cells
Organism made of many small cells has an advantage over an organism composed of fewer, larger cells
As a cell’s size increases, its volume increases much more rapidly than its surface area
Rate of diffusion affected by
Surface area available
Temperature
Concentration gradient
Distance

16. Will water move into or out of a plant cell if the cell has a higher water potential than the surrounding environment?

17. Water will move into the cell because distilled water has a higher water potential than the plant cell itself
When the plant cell’s central vacuole fills with water, then it will push back out on the water surrounding the cell
Plant cell doesn’t burst due to this pressure because it has a cell wall. An animal cell in the same situation would burst. When the pressure exerted outward on the water surrounding the plant cell is equal to the osmotic potential of the solution in the cell, the water potential of the cell will be equal to zero.

18. What would happen if you applied saltwater to a plant?

19. plant cell would undergo plasmolysis – shrinking of the cell because of water flowing out of the cell

20. How does a plant cell control its internal (turgor) pressure?

21. When a plant receives adequate amounts of water
central vacuoles of its cells swell as the liquid collects within
creating a high level of turgor pressure