Q. 9. Carry out the following osmosis experiment:
Take four peeled potato halves and scoop each one out to make potato cups. One of this 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 of sugar in cup B
(c) Put one teaspoon salt in cup C
(d) Put one teaspoon of sugar in the boiled potato cup D. Keep these for two hours. Then observe the four potato cups and answer the following:
(i) Explain why water gathers in the hollowed portion of B and C.
(i) Due to the presence of a solute (sugar in case of B and salt in case of C) there is a concentration difference of water in the potato cup and the through due to which osmosis takes place where the cells of the potato act as the semi-permeable membrane.