AS Biology coursework on Storage time on potatoe water potential

Just wanted to kick stuff off about the new A-s transport coursework about the affect of storage time on the water potential of potatoe chips.
Doesnt seem to bad at the moment. I hope!
Keep it BEEFY!

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Reply 1

stairlizard

Ok looks like noones interested at the momment so ill tell you what i think.
When potatoes are stored for a time they will obviously loose water to the air around them. This means that when they are put into a sucrose solution (so that they loose water due to water moving out of the potatoe tissue due to osmosis) the potaoes that have been stored for a time will in effect loose less water or mass due to their being simply less for them to loose.
Basically then when testing a potatoe that has been stored for a short time,it will loose more mass than a potatoe that has been stored for a long time.
As for water potential, it follows that a potatoe stored for a while will have a higher water potential because it has less water inside it therefore water outside will move into the potatoe faster because the concentration gradient is larger.

If anyone else has any other ideas, or if my theory is complete rubbish then please say somthing. Everyone will benefit in the end :wink:

Reply 2

.NK

Just wanted to say that the plural of potatoes is potato. There's no 'e' on the end.

Reply 3

MadNatSci

.NK

Just wanted to say that the plural of potatoes is potato. There's no 'e' on the end.

You didn't mean plural of potatoes, did you?! One potato, multiple potatoes. Serves you right for picking on him!! :wink:

Reply 4

MadNatSci

stairlizard

That sounds reasonable, though I haven't done the experiment. But make sure you remember that if it has LESS water inside it it has a LOWER water potential!

Reply 5

.NK

MadNatSci

You didn't mean plural of potatoes, did you?! One potato, multiple potatoes. Serves you right for picking on him!! :wink:

Erk. Thankyou...! :biggrin:

Didnt mean to pick on him - was just trying to help :smile:

You get marked for spelling in AS coursework.

Reply 6

MadNatSci

.NK

Erk. Thankyou...! :biggrin:

Didnt mean to pick on him - was just trying to help :smile:

You get marked for spelling in AS coursework.

Sorry, was just teasing :wink:

I appreciate irony!

Reply 7

stairlizard

Thats Ok, dont really care about spelling but do any of you have anything constructive to say about this topic. For instance, what kind of control are we going to use in the experiment?

Reply 8

stairlizard

Come on guys there must be someone out there whos doing this. All i want to know is what method ure going to use so i know i;m on the right track.
Go on, it'l be better in the long run.........

Reply 9

stairlizard

Come on guys there must be someone out there whos doing this. All i want to know is what method ure going to use so i know i;m on the right track.
Go on, it'l be better in the long run.........

Try the thread on the academic subforum, you might get more replies...

Reply 10

Cooper

this mite sound really dumb, but i dont understand. How does water potential affect the chips firmness? does more water mean more soggy....where does the sucrose come into it?

Reply 11

stairlizard

Thats not that stupid question! I think that a soggy chip, although you think of this as moist is the chip without much water. This is because a firm chip must have lots of water in it to support the tissue and make it firm. This is called turgor pressure.
So: Soggy = little water
Firm = lots of water

Sucrose comes into it because this is how you find the water potential. Do a search on google with "experiment to find the water potential of potato" or somthing like that and thisl give you the method for finding the water potential of the potato. Have fun!

Reply 12

jaan

stairlizard

Just wanted to kick stuff off about the new A-s transport coursework about the affect of storage time on the water potential of potatoe chips.
Doesnt seem to bad at the moment. I hope!
Keep it BEEFY!

i did that coursework!

Reply 13

Cooper

Thank you very much Stairlizard. have u done any preliminary work in the lab?

Reply 14

Cooper

oooo, hello, so u did the C/W eh? any tips u want to passover my way, im finding it kinda hard!doh!

Reply 15

jaan

Cooper

oooo, hello, so u did the C/W eh? any tips u want to passover my way, im finding it kinda hard!doh!

um...
it was lyk a year ago...
i thought it was pretty easy-lol-sorry
well is ther nething in particular tht ur stuck with?

Reply 16

kdmj

Yeah theres sumfink u cd help me wif plz on this coursework.
How do i keep it a fair test?
Wot shood i write in my conclusion?
Plzzzzzzzzzzzz help me!
thankyou
kitty kat x

Reply 17

jaan

kdmj

Yeah theres sumfink u cd help me wif plz on this coursework.
How do i keep it a fair test?
Wot shood i write in my conclusion?
Plzzzzzzzzzzzz help me!
thankyou
kitty kat x

wel u hav2 make sure all the potatoes u use r the same size same amount of solution in each beaker same temp same amount of time for each potato repeat the experiment to get more accurate results
conclusion-wat u found out from the experiment, wat u wud change if u did it again, wat wud these changes affect, whether u think u got accurate results, if u have graphs-wat do they tell u , do they support ur first predictions, were there ne anomalous results, wat do ur results tell u , explain wat the sciency side of the experiment is n if ur results show this or not
thts all i can realy rmr cos i did it last year, but i hope tht was sum help :smile:

let me no hw it goes!
good luck!
xoxox

Reply 18

kdmj

Thankyou...but one more ques...
wot r the sciency bits?
hahahaha!

Reply 19

stairlizard

Cooper

Thank you very much Stairlizard. have u done any preliminary work in the lab?

I didnt actually do it, but its best to put you did some cos you get extra marks for that kinda stuff. Anyway just say you did an experiment to get the right range of sucrose solutions for potato. In other words you need to get a general idea of what concentration of sucrose will produce no increase or decrease of the potato size.
You can get some results for this experiment from some of the websites i told you about if you dont have time to do it yourself.
Hope that helpd... Keep it beefy!