While I am not asking the question here, a recent question concerning osmosis at the Bio SE caught my interest. In a nutshell that question was, given isotonic solutions of sugar inside and outside an immersed semipermeable bag, what will happen if a second solute--too big to escape through the membrane-- is added to the bag?
The question has an SAT flavor but I think it should be possible to answer it with a fairly straightforward DIY procedure. So my question here is whether the outline I have in mind would work, or whether something better can be devised.
Procedure: Make an n-molar solution of dextrose. Make an (n+x)-molar solution of dextrose [n] and a second [x] solute S (sucrose? starch? urea?--something that will not pass through the membrane). Fill the bag with the dextrose/S solution. Immerse the bag in the dextrose solution.
Osmosis alone will draw water into the bag. The question to be answered by the procedure is whether there will also be a net diffusion of dextrose out of the bag so that the final concentration of dextrose is higher outside the bag than inside, i.e., higher than the initial n-molarity.
According to one internet source, dextrose will rotate plane-polarized light about $30^o$ clockwise. If my null hypothesis is that the n-molar solution and the post-osmosis/diffusion solution outside the bag have the same molarity (i.e., that there is no net movement of dextrose out of the bag), and if I am able to construct an apparatus to measure optical rotation consistently in my kitchen, could such an apparatus be sensitive enough to reject $H_o$ if sugar in fact diffuses out of the bag?
Can anyone suggest a good practical way to set this up? Suggestions for types of membranes, necessary polarizing/light equipment, second solute S, etc. all welcome. Also, if there is a simpler/better way of going about this that would be great.
Thanks for any advice.
Notes
Sucrose reportedly rotates light more (perhaps $40^o$) but it may be too large to pass through some commercially available membranes. Fructose only rotates light about $10^o$ so I don't think it can be used here. Could sucrose be used as second solute?
The thermodynamics tag is added since I think diffusion is properly an aspect of thermodynamics (see Fermi, Thermodynamics, ch. VII). Please feel free to edit if I am mistaken.