In: Biology
would sweet potatos have a high water potential than russet potatos?
Sweet potato and russet potato water potential
Water potential is the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis. In osmosis water moves from low solute concentration to high solute concentration through semipermeable membrane. Sweet potato contain high sugar content as compare to russet potato. To check the hypothesis of water potential the both potato kept high sugar concentration solution and in distilled water separately. Sweet potato gain the weight in distilled water while they lose their weight in the highly concentrated sugar solutions. But when we follow the same process for russet potato the change in the weight is very less as compare to the sweet potato. This is happen because high concentration of solute (sugar) in sweet potato. So it would clearly suggest sweet potato have high water potential then russet potato. The water potential is influenced by solute concentration, pressure, gravity, and factors called matrix effects. Water potential denoted by the equation.
Ψ (water potential) = Ψs + Ψp + Ψg + Ψm
Where
Ψs = solute potential
Ψp, = pressure potential
Ψg, = gravity potential
Ψm = matric potential