Potassium Permanganate Diffusion

Throughout this lab, diffusion and osmosis has been seen and tested through experiment. In part A of the lab, diffusion was demonstrated with two solids and an agar gel petri dish. One crystal of potassium permanganate and one crystal of methylene blue were placed on either side of an agar gel petri dish. The purpose of this experiment was to determine which of the crystals would diffuse across the gel more. So the question is, which solid would have a higher rate of diffusion through the agar, methylene blue or potassium permanganate? Diffusion is the movement of particles from a high region of concentration to a region of low concentration until there is equal distribution of said particles. The concentration gradient is what caused the
Five separate dialysis tubes were filled with 10 mL each of tap water, 20% sucrose solution, 40% sucrose solution, 60% sucrose solution and another tap water. The first four bags were then added to 200 mL beakers filled with water. The last dialysis tube was added to a 200 mL beaker of 60% sucrose solution. Over the course of an hour, each bag was periodically dried and then weighed for the experiment. The question for the second experiment is, will the weight of the bags decrease or increase over time. Or could the weight of the bags possibly stay the same over the allotted period of time. Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane. In turn, the solutions in the bags are diffusing. So the hypothesis is if higher concentrations of sucrose are added to the dialysis bags, then the movement of water in the dialysis bag will increase and increase
Some of the factors that affect diffusion and osmosis are temperature, molecule size, shape and concentration of a solute. Pressure directly affects the rate of osmosis. Pertaining to this lab, there are solutions that also need to be discussed. Osmosis and diffusion are passive processes of transport (Human, p. 40). Isotonic solutions are solutions that contain the same concentration of solute particles per volume than that within the cells (Human, p.41). The same solute in ECF is also .9% NaCl of a normal concentration (McKinley, p. 112). There is also the aspect of a hypertonic solution, which means the concentration of solute is greater outside the cell then inside (Human, p. 41). There is also an increase of solute in the ECF and water can move out of the membrane. The last solution that needs to be discussed is hypotonic solution. A hypotonic solution contains a solute concentration less than that within the cell (Human, p. 41). There is also a decrease solute in ECF and water is able to move into the membrane. With passive transport, no energy is required for the molecules to move into out out of the cell (“Diffusion and Osmosis,”