Osmosis Activity

Some plants put a lot of sugar into their cells. These sugary cells can then pull water into them by a special process called osmosis. You can see osmosis at work in the following experiment.

What do you need?

• Dried apricots, sultanas or other dried fruits
• Bowl of water

What to do:

• Taste a bit of the dried fruit - is it full of sugar?
• Choose one or two pieces of fruit. Weigh them and/or measure their circumference.
• Place the fruit in a bowl of fresh water.
• Watch what happens to the fruit over a 30 minute period, and measure the changes in it's circumference and weight.

Does the circumference increase or decrease?

The changes you see are due to osmosis. Look up the meaning of the word "osmosis" in a dictionary - it's a very important thing.