Osmosis - Why use celery instead of potato?

Hi, im doing my AS Coursework on osmosis and i need to know why is it better to use celery instead of potato when investigating effect of osmosis on different concentrations of sucrose.

Reply 1

me_me_mee

celery contains more water than potato?

Reply 2

Charlybob

The veins in the celery are there to transport water. A potato's still going to work, but celery will do it faster which will give a more complete result in the same amount of time.

Reply 3

nofo

Potatoes are nicer to eat than celeries, therefore you don't waste good food.

Reply 4

xixixiwater

I think I can help you with this!
Well, the main point about osmosis is to show osmosis in plants and how water uptake occurs, and celeries have xylems vessels to demonstrate that whereas potatoes(basically full of starch as it's the potato plant's "starch storage" for winter when the leaves cannot photosynthesis) don't have xylems vessels as you notice.

Therefore, celery is the preferred one to demonstrate osmosis within plants. ^__^

I hope that helps!

Reply 5

Kyalimers

Celery will take up water much quicker and eveen small changes in mass can be measured more accurately. The Celery has xylem vessels running through it whereas the potato does not therefore the celery can transport water much more quickly. With potatoes however, thick skin and vast amounts of carbohydrates slow the uptake of water. It can also be difficult to tell changes in mass.

If you are cutting or boring the 2, celery is much easier to get equal size pieces of due to being 'crisp' and generally uniform. Sucrose solution will also have a greater effect on celery and as before, this will make it easier to distinguish changes.

Economically, celery is cheaper than potatoes but for c/w this does not matter.