A group of students are conducting an experiment. Since potatoes contain both sugar and water, the students use them in the experiment. The students cut six equal cubes of potato and weigh them. They place the six cubes into six different beakers containing different concentrations of sugar solutions, then weigh each potato cube after 24 hours and calculate the percent change in mass. The graph below shows the result of their experiment.

Question

Which of the statements below is a valid conclusion about this experiment?

a
The lower the concentration of sugar, the less likely the potato will gain mass.
b
The lower the concentration of sugar, the more likely the potato will gain mass.
c
The higher the concentration of sugar, the more likely the potato will gain mass.
d
The higher the concentration of sugar, the more likely the water concentration will be at equilibrium.

Answer 1

The correct conclusion based on the description of the experiment is:

b. The lower the concentration of sugar, the more likely the potato will gain mass.

In this experiment, when potatoes are placed in a solution with lower sugar concentration (hypotonic solution), water moves into the potatoes via osmosis, leading to an increase in mass. Conversely, in higher sugar concentration solutions (hypertonic), water moves out of the potatoes, causing them to lose mass.