Using Potatoes in the Lab

Resource

Potatoes are well known as a reliable and easy to obtain resource for key practicals such as investigating osmosis. However, there are other ways in which you can use these useful vegetables in the lab.

Practicals

Teaching Topics

  • Cell membranes
  • Osmosis
  • Asexual reproduction
  • Carbon cycle (Decay)

Image Resources

Description

Potato, Solanum tuberosum

An edible tuber with world-wide distribution. The potato is an important source of dietary starch, along with rice, wheat and maize. Some cultivars are vulnerable to potato blight (Phytophthora infestans), a fungal disease that had devastating effects on the Irish potato crops of both 1845 and 1846, causing extensive malnutrition and loss of life.

Growing and sourcing

Easily obtained from greengrocers, markets and supermarkets at reasonable cost.

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