Osmosis in Potato: the Practical
Do the osmosis practical step by step: order the method, calculate percentage change in mass and use the graph.
About this activity
The potato-cylinder practical from start to finish. Students put the method in order, calculate the percentage change in mass for three cylinders, read the graph to find the concentration inside the potato cells, and explain the results. The first screen says how the practical fits the student’s exam board: a required practical for AQA, a core practical for Edexcel and part of OCR’s practical work on transport in and out of cells.
How to use Osmosis in Potato: the Practical
- Osmosis in Potato: the Practical is a free Biology activity for Years 9 to 11 that takes about 12 minutes. Try it on this page on a computer, tablet or phone: there’s nothing to download.
- In a lesson, choose Show on the board to play it together as a class.
- To set it for a class, a teacher shares it and gets a code: students type the 6-digit code at lycolearn.co.uk/join with their first name and the first letter of their surname (no accounts needed), and their scores come back to the teacher.
Students will
- Describe the method for investigating osmosis in plant tissue
- Calculate a percentage change in mass, with the right sign
- Use the graph to estimate the concentration inside the cells
- Explain gains and losses in mass using osmosis
Teaching tips
- Use it before the practical so students know what each step is for, or afterwards to rehearse the calculation.
- Ask why the cylinder in distilled water gained the most mass.