Egg Osmosis

Name: Amal Jose

Lab Partner: Luis Diaz

Class: Anatomy& Physiology 1

Instructor: Dr. Jose C. Morales

Semester: Spring 2017

Date: 02/23/2017

Institution: Georgia Gwinnett College

Topic: Egg Osmosis

Introduction

        According to the Anatomy and physiology textbook, The Osmosis is the process of water molecule through a semi-permeable membrane from a higher concentration to the lower concentration until the concentration of both is equal. Every cell needs a piece of machinery that is used in the maintenance of a constant internal milieu of a multicellular organism. The transfer material to and from the cell needs a stable piece of machinery to achieve this status. Cells are therefore to tie a membrane that acts as the selective controller of the movement of different substances to and from the cell. The external and internal environment of cells is an aqueous solution of dissolved inorganic and organic molecules. The egg cell is made of calcium carbonate and vinegar contains acetic acid.    

This experiment we tested are the effects of vinegar, water and salt had on an egg. The cell membrane plays a huge role in this experiment as passive transport. Passive transport is the movement of the substance across the cell membrane, without any input of energy by the cell. The experience is to find the effect of solute concentration.

Purpose:

The purpose of this experiment is to understand osmosis and see osmosis through the cell membrane of an egg.

 My Hypothesis was that the mass of egg A and egg B will increase in all three solutions, showing that osmosis will occur when the concentration of the solutions is different.  

Methods and materials

        According to the direction of the instructions that Dr. Morales gave us, each group of students was given two eggs from the egg cell that has been dissolved away.  Each egg was assumed to have the same concentration of solute in the membrane, and based on the rate of osmosis, will attempt to determine what this concentration must be. We weighed each egg separately in the electronic balance to the nearest 0.1 gram and recorded the weights on Table 1 at time “0”.  We placed the eggs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 into separate beakers containing solutions of distilled water, 10% sucrose, 20% sucrose, 30% sucrose and unknown sucrose. At 15 minute intervals, which is after 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes, we removed the eggs from the beakers; carefully wiped off all excess water with a paper towel, and again weighed each egg separately on an electronic balance. After that, we recorded the weights on Table 1 of the experiment sheet.  

Results

Both A and B eggs for each 15 minutes, the mass was increasing when we checked with an electronic balance. For the egg, a 10% sucrose had the less mass at each 15 minutes. When it started with the 0% sucrose, the 20% sucrose has the highest percentage but when it got to 30 minutes the 0% sucrose started to increase the mass. When it got to the 60-minute mark, the 0% sucrose had the highest mass from all of the sucrose level. When it started, the unknown had the lowest mass, but when it got to 60 minutes, the 30% sucrose had the lowest mass. For egg B, 10% sucrose had the highest mass at every 15 minutes. When it started, 20% sucrose had the lowest mass, but when it got 60 minutes the unknown had the lowest mass.

Graph 1

 [pic 1]

Graph 2      

[pic 2]                                                                               

Discussion

My hypothesis was not correct. I thought the mass of the eggs will increase, but the mass was decreasing every 15 minutes. We can also see in the graph above that the total weight change of the eggs is decreasing. The egg’s mass increased in the distilled water and vinegar, because they were hypotonic to the solution in the egg, causing the water to diffuse into the cell. The shell on the egg dissolved because the egg shell is made of calcium carbonate and vinegar that contains acetic acid. We didn’t make any error when we did the lab.