Question

Explain with the help of an experiment about osmosis observed in plants.

Answer 1

Experiment: The Potato Osmoscope

• Procedure: Take a large, raw potato tuber, peel it, and slice one end flat so it can stand. Hollow out the opposite end to create a deep cup with a thin bottom wall. Fill this cavity halfway with a concentrated sugar solution and mark its level by inserting a pin into the inner wall. Place the potato cup inside a beaker containing plain water.
• Observation: After a few hours, the level of the sugar solution inside the potato cavity rises well above the pin mark.
• Conclusion: Water molecules moved from the beaker (higher water concentration) into the potato cavity (lower water concentration) through the living cell layers of the potato, which act as a semi-permeable membrane. This clearly demonstrates osmosis in plant tissue.