Weight gain of potato section in sucrose concentration

November 16, 2010 at 10:05 pm #14136

Participant

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I’m slightly stuck with the lesson I’m at in Biology, and wondering if you could help me. Here goes.

If my 10g piece of potato has an approx. sucrose concentration of 1.65%, and it is put in a sucrose concentration of 0.1%, (or 2.2% or 4.*%) how do I calculate how much weight it gains? I have the following table to work with, but I’m not sure how much help that is, because there does not seem to be any correlation between the weight gain and the sucrose concentration, due to turgor pressure I suppose.

Beaker Concentration of Sucrose (%) Weight of Potato Cube after 24 Hrs (grams) Percent Change in Mass (%)
1 0.0 13.4 34
2 0.5 12.5 25
3 1.0 11.2 12
4 1.5 10.3 3
5 2.0 9.2 -8
6 2.5 8.5 -15
7 3.0 8.0 -20
8 3.5 7.7 -23
9 4.0 7.5 -25
10 4.5 7.4 -26

Thanks so much!
Sheila

November 17, 2010 at 12:58 am #102306

canalon

Participant

Your table is very useful and I can see a nice correlation between the sucrose concentration and and the change in weight.
Have you tried to plot your data? There are many way to do that, and that might make it easier to realize what is happening.
And write down your hypothesis in word. What will happen in the condition X and in condition Y etc… or when factor Z evolves in a given direction.

November 17, 2010 at 1:24 am #102309

ChristsInstrument

Participant

Thanks for your response!

I have plotted the data, and it does make some sense, but I still can’t see the correlation or pattern between the sucrose concentration and the change in weight. I know that the higher sucrose concentration makes the weight go down, but I don’t see a pattern or how to figure out the answer to the question asking me to "Predict the mass of a 10 gram potato section placed in a sucrose solution of 0.1%, 2.2%, and 4.8%." 🙁

November 17, 2010 at 5:39 am #102314

canalon

Participant

use the plot!

draw a line through your point and read the result for the concentration of sucrose you want.

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