Lesson 10: Required Practical 3 - Investigating Water Potential (Measuring Change in Mass)

Measuring the change in mass

  1. Use a cork borer to create equal sized potato chips. Group them into threes and measure the mass of each group on a balance.
  2. Place each group into each of the sucrose solutions and leave for 20 minutes
  3. Remove the potato chips, pat them dry with a paper towel and weigh each group of potatoes - record the mass.
  4. Calculate the percentage change of mass for each group

Production of a calibration curve

The results can be presented in a calibration curve - this is done by plotting the percentage change in mass against the concentration of sucrose solution.