How Water Or Maple Syrup Affects a Shell Less Egg Through Osmosis and Diffusion

Egg Lab

Objective: To use the properties of both diffusion and osmosis to see the affects of either maple syrup or water on a shell-less raw egg over a three day period. Also, applying properties hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic solutions.

Problem: How does a water solution and a syrup solution affect a cell’s mass?

Hypothesis: If an egg is placed in a 50% water and 50% sugar solution, then it will not increase or decrease in mass because it is in an isotonic solution.

Variables: The manipulated variable is the type of solution and the responding variable is the increase or decrease in mass.

Materials:

• Raw shell-less egg
• Water
• Beaker (or plastic cup)
• Pancake Syrup
• Scale
• Saran (plastic) Wrap

Procedure:

Day 1

1. Measure the mass of the cup.
2. Measure the mass of the cup + the egg inside.
3. Subtract these masses to obtain the mass of the egg alone. Record in data table.
4. Place raw egg in vinegar until shell-less.
5. Take mass of raw shell-less egg.

Day 2

1. Remove vinegar from cup.
2. Measure mass of cup + egg.
3. Subtract mass of cup from mass of cup + egg. Record in data table.
4. Add specified amount of solution to egg and cup.
5. Let egg and cup sit in solution for the weekend.

Day 3

1. Remove solution from cup.
2. Measure mass of cup + egg.
3. Subtract mass of cup from mass of cup + egg. Record in data table.
4. Observe egg’s increase/decrease in mass.

Data/Results/Observations:

Qualitative Data: Table 1: Egg Observation over a Three-Day Period.

Solution Day 1 Day 2 (After Vinegar) Day 3 (After Solution)

50% Water 50% Sugar A regular egg. The egg is slightly larger than before. The egg is brown and white and is squishy.

Analysis Questions:

1. The 100% syrup solution caused the egg to be in a hypertonic solution.
2. The 100% water solution caused the egg to be in a hypotonic solution.
3. The egg placed in syrup gained a small amount of mass after soaking in vinegar because vinegar is 95% water, so water went into the egg, increasing the mass.
4. The 75% water and 25% sugar solution was the closest to being isotonic.

Application:

The phrase “structure determines function” applies to what the egg and sperm cells do. The egg cell's structure must be larger so its function (to become a baby) can be carried through. The sperm must be constructed the way is, so it can easily carry its genetic information to the egg cell and focus on getting there.

The advantage of having human survival/reproduction set-up as one sperm cell being nothing and one ovum determining everything is that the ovum has millions of possibilities of being fertilized by a sperm so the reproduction process has numerous chances of working.

Conclusion

This experiment tested how a water solution and a syrup solution affected a cell’s mass. Over the course of the lab, the egg increased or decreased in mass depending on what solution it was placed into. The eggs mass increased if there was more water than sugar as the solution and the mass decreased when there was less water than sugar. The data shows that in the 100% water solution, the eggs mass greatly increased, while in the 100% sugar solution, the mass decreased. During this lab, the mass of the egg could have been affected by the inability to remove all of the solution of the cup, creating a larger mass than it should have been. Also, the egg may have been squished when pouring out the solution, also affecting the mass. This lab could be extended upon by adding different percentages of water and sugar and using a different acid to remove the shell from the egg. In conclusion, the mass of an egg is affected by the amount of a solute in a solution.