Q1. A student produces several cylinders of potato, of exactly the same length and diameter. Some of these potato cylinders are placed in a beaker containing pure water whilst others are placed in beakers containing solutions of sugar at various concentrations. These beakers are left overnight and the following morning the student takes each cylinder and measures it to see if there has been any change in length.



The student notices that the potato cylinders that had been in the water seemed to have expanded the most, and those cylinders that had been in the sugar solution had expanded least, and in some cases had contracted in length.


Using your knowledge of Osmosis and including reference to the definition of osmosis in your answer, explain the students observations.


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