Name: Eniquez, Jigs 4BIO8

Exercise 1: Cell Transport Mechanisms and Permeability: Activity 1: Simulating Dialysis (Simple Diffusion) Lab Report

Pre-lab Quiz Results

You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly.

1. The driving force for diffusion is

You correctly answered: b. the kinetic energy of the molecules in motion.

2. In diffusion, molecules move

You correctly answered: a. from high concentration to low concentration.

3. Which of the following dialysis membranes has the largest pore size?
You correctly answered: d. 200 MWCO

4. Avogadro's number is a constant for the number of

You correctly answered: b. molecules.

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Experiment Results
Predict Question:
Predict Question 1: The molecular weight of urea is 60.07. Do you think urea will diffuse through the 20 MWCO membrane?
Your answer : c. No, not at all.

Predict Question 2: Recall that glucose is a monosaccharide, albumin is a protein with 607 amino acids, and the average
molecular weight of a single amino acid is 135 g/mole.

Which of the following will be able to diffuse through the 200 MWCO membrane?
Your answer : c. glucose only

Stop & Think Questions:

The reason sodium chloride didn't diffuse left to right is that
You correctly answered: c. the membrane pore size was too small.

Glucose is a six-carbon sugar. Albumin is a protein with 607 amino acids. The average molecular weight of a single amino
acid is 135 g/mole. There is no reason to run these solutes at the 20 MWCO because
You correctly answered: d. glucose and albumin are both too large to pass.

The rate of diffusion for urea

You correctly answered: b. is slower than that for sodium because urea is a larger molecule.

Experiment Data:

Solute MWCO Left Solute Concentration Right Solute Concentration Average Diffusion
Rate
Na+ Cl- 20 9.00 0.00 0.0000
Urea 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Urea 20 9.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 20 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 50 9.00 0.00 0.0150
Urea 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 50 18.00 0.00 0.0273
Urea 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 50 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 100 9.00 0.00 0.0150
Urea 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Urea 100 9.00 0.00 0.0094

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Solute MWCO Left Solute Concentration Right Solute Concentration Average Diffusion
Rate
Albumin 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 100 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Na+ Cl- 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Urea 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 200 9.00 0.00 0.0042
Na+ Cl- 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Urea 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000
Albumin 200 9.00 0.00 0.0000
Glucose 200 0.00 0.00 0.0000

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Post-lab Quiz Results
You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly.

1. The effect of increasing the concentration of sodium chloride from 9 mM to 18 mM in the left beaker was to
You correctly answered: b. increase the rate of diffusion.

2. Describe the difference between the rate of diffusion seen for sodium and urea.
You correctly answered: c. Urea diffused more slowly because it is larger than sodium.

3. Which of the following solutes did not pass through any of the membranes?
You correctly answered: b. albumin

4. When diffusion stops, we say the solution has reached

You correctly answered: a. equilibrium.

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Review Sheet Results
1. Describe two variables that affect the rate of diffusion.
Your answer:
The molecular weight of the molecule as well as the permeablity of the membrane to the molecules affects the rate of
diffusion.

2. Why do you think the urea was not able to diffuse through the 20 MWCO membrane? How well did the results compare
with your prediction?
Your answer:
It is because the pore size of the used dialysis membrane i.e. 20 MWCO was not large enough for the 60.07 MW urea to
pass through.

3. Describe the results of the attempts to diffuse glucose and albumin through the 200 MWCO membrane. How well did the
results compare with your prediction?
Your answer:
My predication were accurate since glucose was a monosaccharide allowing it to be small enough to pass through the 200
MWCO membrane. However, the albumin did not pass because it was larger than the pore size of the MWCO membrane
since it consisted of 607 amino acids with each one having a weight of 135 g/mole.

4. Put the following in order from smallest to largest molecular weight: glucose, sodium chloride, albumin, and urea.
Your answer:
sodium chloride, urea, glucose, albumin

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