The Rate of Diffusion Across an Artificial Semipermeable Membrane

Abstract

The task at hand was to characterize diffusion properties of non-lipid chemicals across an artificial membrane (French, 2014). This question is at the forefront of contemporary science, for biotechnology has the capacity to create artificial cells capable of a variety of functionalities (Pohorille & Deamer, 2002). The problem is, technology just made this type of science possible, so this field is relatively undiscovered. This research is being done to see what types of molecules and at what rates said molecules are diffusing through the artificial membranes. In our experiment, we tested the permeability of dialysis tubing with starch, NaCl, and glucose. We hypothesized that smaller molecules, such as NaCl, will diffuse through a semipermeable membrane in larger numbers than larger molecules, such as starch. Using dialysis tubing, we added 30mL of each solution into deionized water and measured the amount of molecules that passed through the membrane appropriately. Our results showed that our smallest molecule, NaCl, diffused through the membrane the most and starch the least due to its large size.