1. Turgor Pressure Lab Objectives:
To explore how force affects turgor pressure
in plants.
Identify how pressure provides plants with
support

2. Introduction
Plants have water in their cell vacuoles, the water pushes (like a force) on the cell membrane and cell wall creating a type of pressure which makes the cell kind of stiff or rigid.
This type of pressure is called turgor pressure, enabling the plant (or stem) to stand upright. Lack of water will cause a drop in turgor pressure, causing the plant to wilt and die.

3. Pre-Lab Analysis Questions:
1. Write a definition for turgor pressure.

4. Pre-Lab Analysis Questions:
2. What happens when a plant wilts?

6. Pre-Lab Analysis Questions:
3. How do you think a piece of uncooked potato (French fry) will change when it is soaked in salt water?

7. Hypothesis: Write a hypothesis using the If-Then format.

8. Observations:
On your T-Chart, observe the piece of potato soaked in water and the piece soaked in saltwater. Compare them. (How are they alike? How are they different? Think color, texture, firmness, etc.)
Potato soaked
in saltwater
Potato soaked
in tap water 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

9. Video Questions: Describe the celery before the fresh water was added.
Describe the celery before the fresh water was added.

10. Video Questions: Describe the celery at the end of the video.
3. Approximately how long did it take the celery to change?
It took approximately _______________ to become rigid again.

11. Post-Lab Analysis Questions:
1. What does the amount of bend tell you about the turgor pressure inside the potato cell?
2. What effect did the salt solution have on the potato?
3. Which one caused greater turgor pressure inside the cell, the tap water or the salt water solution?

12. Conclusion: State the purpose or objective of the lab
You will need to write your conclusion on a separate sheet of notebook paper.
Write your conclusion in paragraph form. Please remember to:
State the purpose or objective of the lab
Rephrase your hypothesis
Briefly summarize the experiment. What did you do?
What were the results? (Include the data. What direction did the water move. Why?)
Ex: In the turgor pressure lab, a potato was used to
demonstrate how ____________