EGG OSMOSSIS
OBJECTIVE
To determine what effect does the type of solution that an egg is submerged in affect the flow of materials into and out of it? To determine the changes that occurs to a deshelled egg when put in isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic solutions over different time intervals.
HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis of this experiment is that if more sucrose concentration there is in a solution, then the more hypertonic the deshelled egg will be over time. The less sucrose concentration the solution contains, the more hypotonic the deshelled egg will be as time goes by.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The hypothesis was correct. When the eggs were placed in the highly concentrated sucrose syrup(40%), their masses decreased greatly. This shows that the interior of the eggs must have had a lower solute concentration than their surrounding environment of sucrose syrup. The water within the eggs left through the membrane and diffused into the syrup, decreasing its solute concentration. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The egg submerged in the 14%concentrated solution; there were no much change to the size of the egg. This assumes equilibrium balance between solute concentration on the outside of the egg and in the inside of the egg hence no much movement of solvent (water) in and out of the membrane.
When the eggs were placed in the distilled water (0%), their masses greatly increased. This shows that the interior of the eggs must have had a higher solute concentration than their surrounding environment of distilled water. The distilled water diffused into the eggs’ membrane, decreasing the interior of the eggs’ solute concentration.
CONCLUSION
The natural movement of water is from the side of the membrane with a high concentration of water to the side with a low concentration of water. The term osmosis is particular to solutions (dissolved mixtures) separated by a membrane. Diffusion is similar but refers to any substance spreading from a higher concentration to a lower concentration any doesn’t involve a membrane.
When an egg is treated with distilled water, or a dilute sucrose solution, the solute concentration is higher inside the egg than out, so the water moves into the egg, increasing its mass and bulges .Basically the concentration of particles are higher in the egg than out ,hence to reach equilibrium ,the cell should take in more water.
When a naked egg is placed in the high sucrose syrup the egg shrinks. This is also due to osmosis, but in the opposite direction. The syrup is mostly sugar. It has a lower concentration of water (25% water) than the egg (90% water). To reach equilibrium, osmosis causes the water molecules to move out of the egg and into the syrup until both solutions have the same concentration of water. The outward movement of water causes the egg to shrivel.