Introduction:
The purpose of this lab was to test the effects of hypertonic, isotonic, and hypotonic environments on the weight of a shell-less egg. We tested the weight of the egg after thirty minutes in water as well as corn syrup. I hypothesized that when the egg was placed in water, it would swell and gain weight because it was in a hypotonic environment. That hypothesis was correct as the egg grew slightly and the weight when up. I also hypothesised that when the egg was placed in the syrup, it would shrink because there was more solution on the outside than on the inside. Materials:
We used vinegar for dissolving the shell of our egg,exposing the membrane. We also used one shell-less egg for testing the effects of hypertonic and hypotonic environments, …show more content…
This is because the acidic vinegar was dissolving the egg shell and releasing small air bubbles. After this was finished and the egg was decalcified, the egg felt soft. It also felt easier to hold because it could adjust its shape to my hand. The egg was left without a shell after the decalcifying process. The only thing left holding the albumin in place was the egg membrane, it is comparable to the plasma membrane found in eukaryotes. The egg membrane was also partly see-through; This allowed me to make out the nucleus of the egg. It took up most of the viewing point of the egg, but I was still able to tell that it looked like the egg if it were smaller and yellow. The nucleus also did not move at all throughout the experiment.
The experiment mainly served to illustrate the law of osmosis. It was the flow of water in and out of the egg that led to the changes we observed in the lab. The egg gained mass when placed in water because there was more water outside of the egg than inside. This is opposite of what occurred when in the syrup. The syrup drew water from the egg and caused it to lose