Osmosis And The Egg Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Osmosis And The Egg - Lab Report Example 7. The egg was placed in a clean beaker and covered with water, the amount of which was recorded. Following which the beaker was covered and it was left for a week. 8. After a week, the egg was removed from the beaker, dried, measured and weighed, and details about the appearance were noted. Finally, the amount of water that remained in the beaker was measured and recorded. Data table Measurements Baseline After vinegar After corn syrup After water Circumference (cm) 13 14.5 12.2 15.5 Mass (g) 51.5 71.89 51.6 78.5 Appearance Oval, smooth, soft Long, rubbery, more cracks Smaller, partly indented Bigger, like a rubber immersed in fluid Amount of vinegar (ml) 60.5 43 - - Amount of corn syrup (ml) 77 - 79 - Amount of water (ml) 67 - - 35 Change in liquid (ml) - -17.5 2 -32 Graph Figure 1: Starting circumference (in centimeters) of the egg and circumference following each of the experimental treatments. Figure 2: Starting mass (in grams) of the egg and the mass following each treatment. Q uestions 1. The circumference of the egg increased by 1.5cm after it was immersed in vinegar and left to stand for a week. The mass changed, increasing by around 20g. Overall, the size of the egg increased. The amount of vinegar in the jar decreased by 17.5ml. The changes were the result of osmosis. The gradient across the membrane of the egg made it such that molecules of vinegar were drawn into the egg, resulting in a lower concentration of vinegar molecules outside the egg and a higher concentration within the egg at the end of the week. The cracks in the shell of the egg were the result of an acidic reaction between the vinegar and the shell of the egg. The rubbery nature was due to the change in chemical composition of the egg, it had more liquid in it as a result of the... Water molecules will move in the direction of a high concentration of solute, and hence low water concentration until equilibrium is reached. Generally osmosis occurs across a cell membrane; however, this is not always the case. The outside solution can be grouped into one of three categories, isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic. Isotonic is where the concentration of water is the same inside and exterior to the cell, and as a consequence water moves in both directions with no next change. A hypotonic solution has a higher concentration of water compared to the internal environment, and as a consequence water moves into the cell. Finally, a hypotonic solution has a lower concentration of water to the internal environment, so water moves out of the cell. The process of submerging the egg in liquid and leaving it for a week allowed the process of osmosis to take place. This is because the egg shell is semi permeable and is able to act in the same way that a cell membrane can in terms of allowing diffusion. Both water and vinegar were hypotonic compared to the interior of the egg and as a consequence immersing the egg in these liquids resulted in water being taken into the egg. This resulted in the egg appearing rubbery and gaining in size. In contrast, corn syrup was hypertonic compared to the interior of the egg so water moved out of the egg. As there was already an increased amount of water inside the egg it was this that was removed, resulting in the egg being similar in size to when the experiment began.