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Q. 9.     Carry out the following osmosis experiment:

             Take four peeled potato halves and scoos each one out to make potato cups. One of these potato cups should be made from a boiled potato. Put each potato cup in a trough containing water. Now,

              (a) Keep cup A empty

              (b) Put one teaspoon sugar in cup B

              (c) Put one teaspoon salt in cup C

              (d) Put one teaspoon sugar in the boiled potato cup D.

               Keep these for two hours. Then observe the four potato cups and answer the following:

               (iii) Explain why water does not gather in the hollowed out portions of A and D.

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(iii) Osmosis is the movement of the solvent molecules through a semipermeable membrane from a region of low solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration. In this case the cells of potato act as the semi-permeable membrane through which water enters the potato cup. Since there is no solute in the hollow part of potato A no osmosis has taken place and water does not gather in the hollowed part of A. In the case of D even after the presence of a solute osmosis does not take place. Boiling this potato has destroyed the cells and thus no semi-permeable membrane is there for osmosis to take place. 

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