The actual membrane is created up of phospholipids which naturally form a bilayer, these phospholipids have a head that are hydrophilic and two fatty acid tails that are hydrophobic, and this allows water molecules to pass between the phospholipid molecules by osmosis and allowed self-orientating properties. It’s more than just a passive envelope; it is a dynamic structure that is actively involved in cellular activities such as cell signalling, cell-cell recognition and of course hydration. Another process important in cells is active and passive transport, which is the biological process that moves oxygen, water and nutrients into cells and remove its waste products. The difference between them is that active transport requires chemical energy as it is the movement of those chemicals from areas of lower concentration to areas of higher concentration while on the other hand passive transport requires no energy as it is the transportation of biochemical from areas of high concentration to low concentrations. In the report, active transport is the one which will be demonstrated as it is the transportation of low-to-high concentration. Passive transport, more commonly known as osmosis, is a theory which recognises the biological process where water and other molecules move across biological semipermeable membranes into a region of higher solute concentration. Terms which are …show more content…
The hypothesis of this experiment was that the salinity of water would decrease plant growth due hypertonic solution and the results support the claim. Over the experiment time, plant 1 grew 0.5cm (2.38% increase) which was as expected as it didn’t have a high salinity. Plants 2, 3 and 4 all decreased in height, with plant 2 height decreasing by 1cm (5.26% decrease), plant 3 decreasing by 1.5cm(8.33% decrease) and plant 4 with a decreased height of 2cm(10% decrease). As you can see from the graph, plant 1 stayed in the same position while as the other plants decreased with plant 4 having the most significant decrease in height. Research supports the claim that salinity effects the plant growth significantly, this can be shown by the slow, stunted growth and how the leaves get darker in colour (Earthwiseharmony.com, 2015). The results were as expected; the only anomalies that could have affected the results would be the unknown nutrients in the soil and the water molecules in the air and pre-existing inside the soil and plants. Osmosis is basically vital for every organic organism, if a plant does not have enough water molecules it looks wilted. As you can see from figure 2-4, the plants are wilted. Plants looked wilted if they lack the proper amount of water and in turn loose their turgor (Osmosis in plants, 2015).