Beetroot+Lab+Report

__**Biology lab report**__ __**Movement in & out of cells (Beetroot experiment)**__

Prediction and results: **Tube** || **Content** || **Amount of beetroot added** || **Prediction of colour of water after 15 minutes** || **Colour of water after 15 minutes** || **Amount of light able to pass through the content / %** || A || 4ml of water || 3 discs of 2mm || Colourless || Colourless || 96.5 || B || 4 ml of 25% alcohol solution || 3 discs of 2mm || Slightly Red || Pink || 82.5 || C || 4ml of 50% alcohol solution || 3 discs of 2mm || Red || Red || 65 || D || 4ml of hot water (90-100 C) || 3 discs of 2mm || Slightly Red || Pink || 91.5 || E || 4ml of water || Chopped up pieces of 3 discs of 2mm || Colourless/ Slightly Red || Pink || 68.25 ||

Analysis:

As shown in the results, the red pigments of the beetroot leaks through the membrane when put into alcohol. The higher the percentage of alcohol, the more pigments would leak through the beetroot cell membranes into the water thus the lower the percentage of light that passes through the water. Also shown in the results, the higher the temperature, the greater the amount of pigments of the beetroot would leak through the membrane and into the water. Also seen in tube E, the chopped up pieces of the beetroot had a lot of pigments leaking through the membrane. This shows that many factors can affect the rate of movement through the membranes of the beetroot cells such as temperature, amount of alcohol and the size of the beetroot.

Discussion:

The control of this activity was tube A where the water was clear and remained mostly unaffected by the presence of the beetroot. It was necessary to wash the beetroot slices thoroughly before using them in the experiment after cutting the beetroots, some of the cells would already be cut, causing the red pigments to leak which would affect the results as it is the dependent factor. A factor that may have probably affected the results was the diameter of the beetroot as even though the length is the same, the thickness of the beetroot is not.