An Investigation to Show How Water Temperature and Alcohol Concentratio

An Investigation to Show How Water Temperature and Alcohol Concentration Affect Membrane PermeabilityAim The aim of the experiment is to show the cells membranepermeability is affected by being placed into incompatible temperaturesof water. Also the effect of placing beetroot in to differentconcentrations of alcohol.Beetroot cells contain a rosy-cheeked sap, which leaks out of the cells iftheir membranes are damaged or altered. Cell membranes are made up ofa bilayer of phospholipids, which also contains proteins. Which eitherfloat around or are fixed. Some are found in the inner or outer layerand some span the whole membrane Carbohydrate durance attach themselvesto the external membrane forming glycoproteins and glycolipids. Italso contains cholesterol. We will be able to tell how damaged theyare because we will see a deeper coloured red in the water from wheremore of the red sap has leaked out of the cells.Method A fresh cylinder of beetroot was taken and exploitation a scalpel bothskin was removed. Care should be taken when a scalpel is employ to cutobjects into small pieces. It was then cut into 40 discs using thescalpel. following(a) the discs were placed in a boiling tube and rinsedrepeatedly in till the water ran clear. Then two sets of five boilingtubes were set up into racks. Then using a measuring cylinder measured10cm of tap water was placed in five of the boiling tubes of the setthat would be testing the effect of different temperatures. These werethen left in the different water baths to adjust to the temperature.The other five had 10cm different concentrations of alcohol rangingfrom 25%-100%. There was also one with 10cm of water. Next four discsof the beetroot were placed into each boil... ...es down to 24%. I retrieve this an anomalousresult as after researching this 100% alcohol is used to preserve foodso the light transmission percentage should of gone up but this requisiteto be repeated.I think the main reference work of error in th ese two experiments that couldhave lessened the accuracy was that there was some variation in thethickness of some of the beetroot discs. I think this is hard toimprove as this is generally down to human error of not being able tocut beetroot exactly into 1-2mm discs. The experiment needed to berepeated to see more clearly if there were any anomalous results.Works CitedAdvanced Sciences Biology 1, Mary Jones, Richard Fosberyand Dennis TaylorAS guru Biology, John whole wheat flour and Anthony LewisBiology Principles and Processes, Michael Roberts, Michael Reiss andGrace MongerWww.bbc.co.uk/asguru/biology