Science Person Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 what would be some sources or error in a potato lab where each patoto slice (3 cm in length) is put into a test tube with different concetrations of water for example : 100 % , 99.5 % , 99 % , 98.5 % , 98 % are all concentrations of water in which a potato slice was put in and left for 24 hours in order to determine if the overall mass has gone down or increased. Someone please give some ideas on this. Thank You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Well, one source of error might be not knowing what is dissolved in your water, or treating potato slices as one-dimensional. Is this a lab on osmosis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Science Person Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 yes it is and can you elaborate on this idea I do not quite understand it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Well, you may have errors in measuring the concentration of your solution, or in weighing the potato slices before and after the experiment. If you use different potatoes, or different parts of the potato are different (eg one part for some reason dryer) then that could add to the error. If you put a potato into an isotonic solution it should remain the same weight, but if you have more solute in the water than in the potato, water from the potato will be drawn out (like salting a snail or tomato), but if the water has less solute than the potato, it will be drawn into the potato, making it heavier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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