... there are in the potato itself. These dissolved particles may be, for convenient use of household materials either salt (sodium chloride) or sugar. The idea is to dissolve the correct amounts of either sugar or salt particles into the water the potatoes will go into so as there will be no greater concentration of water on either side of the partially permeable membrane and therefore there will be no osmosis and no net movement and hence no water gain and no water loss. To find the isotonic solution a trial and improvement method should be used. That is to place pieces of potato of equal masses in water : sugar, or water : salt solutions of varying concentrations of both solute and solvent and see which will cause a gain in water, and consequently mass and which will cause a loss in water and mass, all due to osmosis. The ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now