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Essay / Osmosis as a phenomenon in life-preserving functions
Osmosis (the transport of a solvent from a lower concentration to a higher concentration across a semi-permeable membrane) is a fundamental concept in the study of biology, providing the primary means by which water is transported into and out of cells. The importance of this phenomenon lies in the large number of vital functions it performs. Examples of this are the preservation of fruit and meat, helping plants receive water as well as kidney analysis. Plants like watermelon rely on the phenomenon of osmosis to carry out their daily activities. An example would be the transport of water from plant roots to their leaves. Therefore, after investigating the uses of this phenomenon, I began to wonder if it impacts important characteristics of plant tissues such as their mass. The reason why, after careful consideration, watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) was chosen as the main plant to study the effects of osmosis on plant tissue mass, is the fact that it has three distinct parts. It would therefore be interesting to know if the trend would be the same in the three parts or if the mass of each part would be affected differently by osmosis. Additionally, I chose watermelon because of the wide range of vital functions it possesses. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Specifically, not only is it useful in quenching thirst, but it can also be applied to stop inflammations that contribute to diseases such as asthma, diabetes and colon cancer. In order to conduct my experiment more efficiently, I decided to perform osmosis experiments on the three different parts of the watermelon. The reason is that the tissues of watermelon parts vary in size, thickness, and mass and would allow me to conduct a much larger and more diverse study of the rate of osmosis in watermelons. Sucrose concentrations were chosen based on the optimal amount of sucrose that a watermelon typically contains. After deducing the optimum, I decided to include 2 concentrations smaller and 2 larger than this. This would help me more confidently determine the impact of osmosis in watermelon tissues, as the range of data would be wider. Research question: How does the phenomenon of osmosis affect the tissue mass of different parts of the watermelon after their immersion in sucrose solutions of different concentrations? Water Temperature All test beakers containing the watermelon tissues immersed in sucrose concentrations were left in an air-conditioned room for 4 hours set at the temperature of 22°C, which was monitored every hour for s ensure that it remains constant. Water volume: 400 cm3 The 400 cm3 of water were measured from the same measuring cylinder. Ambient temperature The experiment took place in an air-conditioned room for 4 hours set at a temperature of 22°C, which was monitored every hour to ensure that it remained constant Immersion time (duration): 4 hours The exact immersion time (4 hours) was kept using the same watch throughout the experiment Size and shape of the watermelon tissues Each watermelon tissue was cut to the same length (3 cm) (measured using the same ruler) then weighed (on the same scale with pieces of paper towel replaced each time) to ensure they weigh the same. Watermelon Source All watermelon tissues come from the same watermelon. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a)..