I.

OBSERVATION/RESULTS
TABLE II. DIFFUSION

OUTSIDE INSIDE OBSERVATION/MOVEMENT OF MOLECULES

O2: LOW O2: NONE There is a net movement of outside O2 and CO2 molecules towards the inside of
CO2: LOW CO2: NONE the cell until net dynamic equilibrium.
O2: HIGH O2: LOW There is a net movement of outside O2 and CO2 molecules towards the inside of
CO2: HIGH CO2: LOW the cell until net dynamic equilibrium.
O2: NONE O2: LOW There is a net movement of inside O2 and CO2 molecules towards the outside of
CO2: NONE CO2: LOW the cell until net dynamic equilibrium.
O2: LOW O2: HIGH There is a net movement of inside O2 and CO2 molecules towards the outside of
CO2: LOW CO2: HIGH the cell until net dynamic equilibrium.

TABLE II. OSMOSIS

Hypotonic Isotonic Hypertonic

Red Blood Cell (Net water There is an inward net water There is a net equilibrium of There is an outward net
Movement: In/Out) movement to the cell. inward and outward water water movement from the
movement, thus, there is no cell.
net water movement in the
red blood cell.

Red Blood Cell (Shape) The red blood cell swells in There is no change in shape. The red blood cell shrinks in
shape. shape.

Elodia (Net water There is an inward net water There is a net equilibrium of There is an outward net
Movement: In/Out) movement to the cell. inward and outward water water movement from the
movement, thus, there is no cell.
net water movement in the
Elodia cell.

Elodia (Shape) The Elodia cell swells in There is no change in shape. The Elodia cell does not
shape, especially the change its overall shape due
vacuole. to the rigid cell wall, but its
cytoplasmic contents
contract.

Paramecium (Net water There is an inward net water There is a net equilibrium of There is an outward net
Movement: In/Out) movement to the cell. inward and outward water water movement from the
movement, thus, there is no cell.
net water movement in the
 Elodia cell.

Paramecium (Shape) The Paramecium swells in There is no change in shape. The Paramecium cell shrinks
shape. in shape.

EMULSIFICATION. Write the time it took for the oil and water/emulsifying agent to separate.

Castor oil + Water: ___6 seconds__________

Castor oil + 1% Soap solution: ____10 seconds_____
Castor oil + 1% Detergent solution: ___55 seconds_______

II. DISCUSSION:

1. Explain the process of diffusion. Use the results in Table I for your explanation.

According to the observations in Table I, diffusion is the process where a substance goes from a
volume/area where it is greater in amount towards a volume/area where it is lesser in amount. Diffusion aims to
equalize unequal areas of concentration by spreading the amount of the substance’s greater part. Moreover,
the greater the concentration gradient between the two areas, the rate of diffusion to equilibrize the
concentration gradient becomes faster (Demirel & Gerbaud, 2007).

2. Explain the process of osmosis. Compare and contrast the morphology of the cells if exposed to different
osmotic states.

Osmosis is the process where the solvent moves from an area/volume with lesser solute—solute larger
than the solvent—towards the area/volume of greater solute concentration through a semi-permeable
membrane that allows only solvent movement. In other words, where the “salt” goes, the water should follow.
As similarly observed by Stillwell (2016), the simulation proves that water is one of the substances that can
move to equalize gradients of concentration because it can pass in a semi-permeable membrane. In terms of
morphology, all cells except those with cell walls, tend to swell in a hypotonic solution since water from outside
moves towards the insides that have greater solute concentration. While cells in isotonic solution do not change
shape or size since there is a net movement of water—inward and outward. Lastly, cells in hypertonic solution
shrivel in size since the water inside the cell moves outward for a greater solute concentration.

3. Explain the process of emulsification.

Emulsification—as observed in the simulation—is the process where polar substances, such as water,
and nonpolar substances, such as castor oil, can mix well together. Due to emulsification, solutions with
emulsifying agents take longer to separate than a mixture that is not emulsified. Leong (2016) explains this as
creating a semi-stable combination by scattering two or more immiscible liquids together.
4. Explain the use of the emulsifying agent. Use the results in your explanation.

Based on the results, the emulsifying agent binds substances that cannot normally mix. Specifically, in
the laboratory, agitation and the emulsifying agent—such as the soap and detergent solution—also prolong the
stability of oil-in-water emulsion before separation and different emulsifying agents also have different
retention times. Cassiday (2014) reveals that the emulsifying agent prevents the droplets from coalescing,
forming a physical layer surrounding the substance. Specifically, the emulsifying agent has a hydrophilic head
that attracts polar compounds—such as water—and a hydrophobic tail that attracts non-polar compounds—
such as oil—and thus, it lowers the interfacial tension between water and oil, reduces the water-oil interfacial
tension, and hinders the stability of droplets.

III. GUIDE QUESTIONS:

1. List down the factors that affect the rate of diffusion of substances.

Diffusion—a process that passively transports substances from higher to lower concentration areas—is
affected by a variety of factors (Boundless, 2022). First, if the extent of concentration is higher, then the rate of
diffusion is faster. But as the dispersion is close to equilibrium, the diffusion slows down. Second—in terms of
mass—lighter particles move and diffuse faster than heavier particles. Third, higher temperatures increase the
movement and energy of molecules, thus, making diffusion faster. Fourth, solvents with higher density have a
hard time moving through the denser medium and thus, making diffusion slower. Fifth, in terms of solubility,
nonpolar or lipid-soluble substances diffuse more quickly than polar substances because they may pass more
easily across plasma membranes. Sixth and seventh, diffusion rate increases with the surface area while
decreasing with membrane thickness. Lastly, the rate of diffusion is inversely proportional to the distance across
which a substance must move.

2. Provide a real-life situation when you observe changes when a thing is exposed to a hypertonic or
hypotonic state. Provide a brief explanation.

 Hypertonic state: Based on the drying fishes in our fishing community where I lived once, salt is often
put in dried fishes to preserve and dry them, and it does this by creating a hypertonic state outside the
fish. Then, water or moisture inside the fish goes outside to equilibrize with the salt’s greater
concentration through the semipermeable skin membrane which was also similarly observed by
Parvathy and Bindu (2018). The lack of water or moisture inside the fish prevents microorganisms from
living in it. Without microorganisms, dried fish does not rot for longer.

 Hypotonic state: In my childhood, water hydrogel beads have been mistakenly thought of by children as
living due to their growth in water. In effect, there is a hypotonic state for the bead because the
concentration of solutes outside the bead is lower than that of the inside. Then, the osmosis that drives
 the water from outside the bead to the inside is what makes them swell—and even up to a thousand
times (Arens et al. 2017).

3. Why do you think a Medical Technologist should know the basics of these processes?

A Medical Technologist should know the basics of these processes to determine appropriate laboratory
results, and specifically, if there are errors in the pre-analytical phase. For instance, if the red blood cell from an
EDTA tube is shriveled in shape and size on the microscope, then there is an error of putting too little blood in
the EDTA tube (Raj et al. 2015). Putting not enough blood in the EDTA tube makes the plasma solution outside
the blood cells more concentrated in EDTA. Water from inside the blood cell goes to the more concentrated
solution outside and shrivels the blood cell. Any finalized diagnosis based on this erroneous result can provide
fatal treatment or therapy to the patient. In this case, an EDTA tube with blood cells having this characteristic
could not be accepted in the laboratory. In addition, blood that has been taken from a site with hypotonic IV
solution contains too much fluid than it should. In this hypotonic environment, blood cells will swell and may
burst due to too much fluid going inside the cell (Goodhead & MacMillan, 2017). Again, these observed samples
could not be accepted and redraws could be ordered.

IV. CONCLUSION

May it be from high to low, low to none, or high to none, diffusion makes substances go from the
area/volume with higher concentration to the area/volume with lower concentration. In the cell, this is affected
directly by the extent of concentration, temperature, surface area, and nonpolar property of substances that
can only pass in lipid membranes—and inversely by particle mass, solvent density, membrane thickness, and
distance to travel. On the other hand, osmosis moves a solvent from an area of lesser solute concentration to an
area of greater solute concentration through a semipermeable membrane. There are 3 states of an osmotic
environment, and they are hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic. Since a hypertonic solution has a greater solute
concentration in the outside environment, water moves inside and swells the cell. Because a hypotonic solution
has a lower solute concentration in the outside environment, water moves outside and shrivels the cell—and
those with cell walls are often rigid to this effect. In an isotonic solution, the net equilibrium movement of water
allows the cell to maintain its shape. For instance, the phenomena of osmosis can be directly observed in living
and nonliving organisms such as the drying of fish in a hypertonic salt environment and the growing of water
hydrogel beads on a hypotonic water solution. Following, emulsification happens when two liquids that normally
do not mix, have successfully mixed. Emulsifying agents have hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts that attach to
polar and nonpolar molecules—respectively—for the prevention of oil clumping, as well as prolong the
retention times of emulsions. As a medical technologist, it is then of utmost importance to study this concept to
detect and troubleshoot errors in the laboratory processes. A slipped error can provide disastrous results to the
 institution, staff, and worse—the patient itself. As humans are made of 60% of water by mass, studying
diffusion, osmosis, and emulsion allows us to peek and solve problems in the very material that makes us.

V. REFERENCES

Arens, L., Weißenfeld, F., Klein, C. O., Schlag, K., & Wilhelm, M. (2017). Osmotic engine: Translating osmotic pressure
into macroscopic mechanical force via poly (acrylic acid) based hydrogels. Advanced Science, 4(9), 1700112.

Boundless. (2022). General Biology. LibreTexts. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book
%3A_General_Biology_(Boundless)/05%3A_Structure_and_Function_of_Plasma_Membranes/
5.06%3A_Passive_Transport_-_Diffusion

Cassiday, L. (2014). Emulsions: making oil and water mix. International News on Fats, Oils and Related Materials, 25(4),
200-208.

Demirel, Y., & Gerbaud, V. (2007). Fundamentals of equilibrium thermodynamics. Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics. 2nd
Edition. Elsevier Science BV, 1-52.

Goodhead, L. K., & MacMillan, F. M. (2017). Measuring osmosis and hemolysis of red blood cells. Advances in physiology
education, 41(2), 298-305.

Leong, T. (2016). High-power ultrasonication for the manufacture of nanoemulsions and nanodispersions. In Innovative
Food Processing Technologies (pp. 413-428). Woodhead Publishing.

Parvathy, U., & Bindu, J. (2018). Drying and salting of fish. ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin.

Raj, D. M., Ravi, K., & Sankar, S. (2017). A study on preanalytical errors in EDTA blood collected for cell counting. Journal
of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences, 6(22), 1788-1794.

Stillwell, W. (2016). An introduction to biological membranes: composition, structure, and function. Elsevier.