The Effect of Osmosis on Potato Cells

Influence of infiltration into potato cells Introduction Invasion is the movement of water molecules from a low concentration region (large amount of water) through a semipermeable membrane to a high concentration region (small amount of water). A semipermeable membrane is a membrane that allows only selected molecules to pass through it. In plants, water enters the roots through the permeation process. This is because the concentration of cells in the root is higher than the soil outside the root.

If you add potato slices to a high concentration salt solution (hypertonic), infiltration is very effective. The water from the inside of the potatoes is removed from the potato cells into the salt solution, whereby the potato cells lose the inflation pressure. The higher the concentration of the salt solution, the greater the difference in size and weight of the potato slice after separation of the plasm. Penetration is very detrimental to organisms, especially organisms without cell walls. For example, when saltwater fish (whose cells are isotonic with seawater) are placed in fresh water, the cells will take up and dissolve excess water, and the fish will die. Another example of harmful penetration is the use of salt to kill slurs and snails.

Invasion occurs between the potato and the solution. When potatoes are placed in 0% saline (distilled water), water molecules from the distilled water diffuse through the cell membrane of potato cells and enter the vacuole. This will cause the cells to inflate. So these potato tubers are hard when I touch it. Excess water molecules in the vacuoles enhance the quality of the potato tubers. When potato tubers are in 5% salt solution, they do not change as much as other potato tubers in other solutions. They are about the same length, but their mass is reduced the same as other potato tubers that lost water. This is because the salt content of potatoes is less than 5% and the salt water is about 4%. Because the cells are approximately isotonic with the solution and therefore do not need to spread out, so much penetration does not occur.