Learn about Osmosis with Collette Garland

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Osmosis explains why pasta swells in water and fingers prune in baths. It describes water movement from low to high solute concentration, achieving equilibrium. In this video, Collette uses celery to demonstrate this principle; celery absorbs coloured water, showing how plants access to water through osmosis. Coloured flowers can also be created using this method.

Learn the answers to questions such as:

What is osmosis and why is it important?
How does concentration affect osmosis?
What plants can be used to demonstrate osmosis?

Follow these instructions to try this activity yourself:

1. Gather Materials:
Beaker/vase filled with water

Food colouring

Celery stick (or try a white carnation, daisy, or rose!)
2. Prepare the Solution:
Add food colouring to the water in the beaker. The amount of food colouring will determine the concentration of the solution.
3. Insert the Celery:
Take the celery stick and place it into the beaker with the coloured water.
4. Wait:
Allow the celery to sit in the solution for about 2 to 24 hours. This waiting period is crucial for the osmosis process to occur.
5. Observe the Results:
After the waiting period, check the celery stick. You should see that it has absorbed some of the colored water, turning red. This indicates that water has moved from the low concentration (the colored water) to the high concentration (the solutes in the celery).

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