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Surface area to volume ratio

Surface area to volume ratio

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Question 1

A student investigated the effect of surface area on osmosis in sweet potato tissue.

  • They cut two identical large cubes of sweet potato, each with side lengths of 30 mm.
  • One cube was left whole (Sample X).
  • The other cube was cut into twenty-seven equal-sized smaller cubes, each with side lengths of 10 mm (Sample Y).
  • Both samples were placed into a hypertonic sucrose solution of the same concentration.
  • They measured the total mass of each sample at the start and after 40 minutes.

The table below shows the results of this investigation:

Sweet potato sampleNumber of cubesSide length of each cube (mm\text{mm}mm)Total mass at 0 min (g\text{g}g)Total mass at 40 min (g\text{g}g)
X (1 large cube)13030.027.6
Y (27 small cubes)271030.022.0

Is the rate of water loss via osmosis per mm2\text{mm}^2mm2 per minute different between sample X and sample Y? Show appropriate calculations to support your answer.

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Markscheme

Surface area to volume ratio Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Biology
  3. /Surface area to volume ratio

10 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Biology Surface area to volume ratio, covering Surface area to volume ratio. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

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