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Osmosis Lab Report

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The purpose of this experiment is to observe the natural process of osmosis using drops of sheep’s blood in various saline solutions. Since the cell membrane is a selective membrane, the water goes in and out freely but a solute such as NaCl it cannot freely move in or out. Osmosis is a passive process that doesn’t require the input of energy to transport water molecules across a membrane. The channels that allow water to enter or leave a cell are known as aquaporin. Using aquaporin, water moves from a solution with a low solute concentration to a solution with a higher solute concentration. This process continues until equilibrium in solute concentration is established between a cell and its environment.
The sheep’s blood is placed into three …show more content…

The experiment groups are slide #2, #3, and #4 were compared to the control group. The red blood cells on slide #2 have similar appearance to the slide # 1. This implies that 0.9%NaCl is isotonic to the red blood cells. There was no net gain or loss of water because the cells concentration of solute is equal to the 0.9% NaCl solution. The red blood cells on slide #3 showed a decrease in size and more space between the cells was observed. This implies that 10% NaCl is hypertonic to the red cells. There was a net loss of water because the solute concentration of cells is lower than that of the 10% NaCl. Red blood cells on slide # 4 were not visible. This implies that Distilled water (dH2O) is hypotonic to the red cells. There was a net gain of water because the solute concentration of the cells is higher than of the (dH2O) solution. This means the distilled water is hypotonic to blood and that the water moved into the RBCs and they …show more content…

Also, an estimated 4 million cases and over 100,000 deaths occur each year due to this bacteria. Because the intestines are the site in which fluid is absorbed from food, unfortunately for people suffering from the bacteria, the intestines overdo their job and one suffers from diarrhea. Diarrhea is a homeostatic imbalance, in which stools are “watery” (Hoehn, 892). Having Diarrhea for a prolonged amount of time causes dehydration and leads to a loss of electrolytes in the body. This loss causes an imbalance in electrolytes and body and can be fatal. According to Biology, people acquire Cholera by drinking contaminated water which contains human feces and is generally in poorer areas of the world. The bacterium begins by forming a film around the intestines and also produces a toxin. This toxin is an enzyme that modifies the receptors of the cells which constitute the intestines, which happen to regulate salt and water secretion. The toxin which modifies the G-proteins in a cell makes it unable to utilize GTP which keeps the cell in its active form (Campbell,

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