Introduction: Osmosis is the diffusion, the process by which solutes move down their concentration gradient, from higher concentration to a lower concentration, of free water across a selectively permeable membrane. The water moves from the higher free water concentration to the lower or the lower solute concentration to the highest. When the exterior of the cell has a higher free water concentration water will flood in and make the cell swell up. This process increased the size of the central vacuole, otherwise known as being turgid. A turgid is the healthiest state for most plant cells. If the cell is placed in the opposite environment, where the free water concentration is lower, than the cell will lose water by osmosis. The central vacuole will shrink and the cell will become flaccid. Since …show more content…
To find psi, I had to find the molar sucrose concentration at equilibrium or where the the percent of change in mass crossed the x-axis. When I found the line of best fit for both sets of data, neither lines crossed the x-axis. Therefore, I had to calculate where the line would cross the x-axis. I used the slope (0.8307) and the y-intercept (-10.68) to find the x-intercept, which was 12.86. The x-intercept being 12.86 M would be the molar sucrose concentration at equilibrium. I used this data to find psi which equaled -313.12