Permeability of Beetroot Cell Membranes Essay -- Biology Science Exper

Permeability of Beetroot Cell Membranes An experiment to investigate how temperature affects the Permeability of beetroot cell membranes Interpretation of Results: 0Â °C 20Â °C 30Â °C 40Â °C 55Â °C 0.24 0.28 0.75 0.79 0.22 0.26 0.35 0.41 0.81 From 0Â °C to 30Â °C there is a gradual increase of absorbency which shows that as the temperature increases it is denaturing the cell wall and cell membrane and allowing the beetroot pigment to leek out into the distilled water. As soon as the sample of beetroot is placed into the distilled water diffusion occurs naturally, which is the net movement of molecules from a region of high concentration (beetroot sample) to a region of low concentration (distilled water). From 40Â °C upwards there is a sudden increase of absorbency, this is because the optimum temperature of which enzymes and cells can work at is 37Â °C and as soon as you go above this temperature it will cause the enzymes and cells to denature and cease from working as effectively. Even if you then lower the temperature again the cell will not regain its original shape. Within the phospholipid bi-layer there are proteins, and these proteins are made up of polypeptide chains which are joined together by hydrogen, hydrophobic and peptide bonds. Once the temperature has increased above 40Â °C the molecules vibrate so energetically that these bonds break easily and therefore creating holes within the cell wall and phospholipid bi-layer, and al...