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B3 Agar Diffusion Surface Area To Volume Practical

The document outlines an investigation into how cell size affects diffusion, using agar blocks impregnated with Phenolphthalein to model the process. It describes the materials, method, and tasks involved in measuring the time taken for acid to diffuse into agar cubes of varying sizes. The investigation aims to demonstrate that smaller cells allow for quicker diffusion of nutrients and waste, which is crucial for cell survival.

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174 views4 pages

B3 Agar Diffusion Surface Area To Volume Practical

The document outlines an investigation into how cell size affects diffusion, using agar blocks impregnated with Phenolphthalein to model the process. It describes the materials, method, and tasks involved in measuring the time taken for acid to diffuse into agar cubes of varying sizes. The investigation aims to demonstrate that smaller cells allow for quicker diffusion of nutrients and waste, which is crucial for cell survival.

Uploaded by

htyhong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

NAME: _____________________________ FORM:_________

How does the size of a cell affect diffusion?

Background

Nutrients and oxygen need to diffuse through the cell membrane and into the cells, whilst wastes must
diffuse out before their concentrations rise to toxic levels within the cell.

Most cells are no more than 1mm in diameter because small cells enable nutrients and oxygen to diffuse
into the cell quickly and allow waste to diffuse out of the cell quickly. If the cells were any bigger than this
then it would take too long for the nutrients and oxygen to diffuse into the cell so the cell would probably not
survive.

This investigation will examine the effect of increasing size on diffusion into agar blocks. Agar is permeable
and so it can be used to model the diffusion of materials into a cell. Phenolphthalein is a pH indicator: it is
red in alkali and colourless in acid. The time taken for the colour to change completely from red to
colourless in agar cubes can be used as a measure of how long it takes an acid to diffuse to the centre of
these blocks.

Materials and equipment


● 5 test tubes and rack ● dilute hydrochloric acid ● white tile or Petri dish
● non-nutrient agar block ● stop watch ● 30 cm ruler
impregnated with ● scalpel or razor blade ● measuring cylinder
Phenolphthalein

Method

1. You are provided with a block of agar which has been


impregnated with Phenolphthalein.

Place the agar block on a white tile or Petri dish lid and using
a scalpel or razor blade cut a cube of agar of side 10mm

2. Cut 4 further cubes of side 8, 6, 4 and 2 mm respectively.

10 mm

10 mm
8 mm 6 mm 4 mm 2 mm

10mm
3. Stand five test tubes in a rack
and add 5 ml dilute
hydrochloric acid to each

5 ml dilute HCl

4. Drop your 10mm agar blocks into a test tube and start your stop watch. Time how long it takes for
you block to turn completely colourless.

5 ml dilute HCl

Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each of your agar blocks

Tasks

1. Complete the table below:


- Surface area of a cube = 6x2 where x is the length of one side of the cube
- Volume of a cube = x3
- Surface area: Volume Ratio = surface area ÷ volume

Cube dimensions (mm) 10x10x10 8x8x8 6x6x6 4x4x4 2x2x2

Total Surface Area (mm2)

Total Volume (mm3)

Surface Area: Volume Ratio (mm-1)


Time taken for acid to reach centre
of agar block (s)
Rate of diffusion, 1000/t, (s-1)

The time taken for the acid to diffuse to the centre of the cube is the time taken for all the
Phenolphthalein indicator to turn from red to colourless.
Rate of diffusion = 1000 ÷ time taken for acid to diffuse to centre of the cube

2. Describe how size affects how long it takes for materials to diffuse to the centre of the cube of agar.

Challenge: Plot a graph of time taken for acid to reach the centre of the block (y axis) against length
of one side of the block (x axis)

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