Question

A peeled and half cut potato was scooped to create a cavity in the middle. A salt solution was filled in the cavity and the potato was placed in a Petri dish filled with water.
Which process will occur in the given set-up? Why?

Answer 1

The potato contains salt solution, while the petridish contains water.

The salt solution has greater concentration of solutes (high solute potential) and lower concentration of water (low water potential)

The water in the petridish does not contain any dissolved salts so, it is at a greater potential as compared to the salt solution in the potato

So, endosmosis takes place, where water moves from its higher potential to its lower potential i.e, from petridish into the potato.

The water inside the peeled potato is less as compared to outside. So the water will start moving from outside to inside the potato along the concentration gradient and this is called endosmosis.