Introduction
What is osmosis? Osmosis is a very important part of biology. It is the spontaneous passage of water or other solvents through a semipermeable membrane. A semipermeable membrane is one that blocks the passage of dissolved substances. Osmosis occurs when there is an imbalance of solutes outside of a cell versus inside the cell. A solution that has a higher concentration of solutes than another solution is said to be hypertonic, and water molecules tend to diffuse into a hypertonic solution. Cells in a hypertonic solution will shrivel as water leaves the cell via osmosis. If a solution has a lower concentration of solutes than another solution it is said to be hypotonic, and water molecules tend to diffuse out of a hypotonic solution. Cells in a hypotonic solution will take on too much water and swell. The purpose of this experiment is to observe the process of osmosis and getting a better understanding on how osmosis works. To study osmosis I will be using two non-boiled eggs. Eggs are used because under the hard outer shell is a semipermeable membrane that allows air and moisture to pass through. Because water molecules can move into and out of the egg but large molecules cannot, the semipermeable egg membrane allows for an exploration of the concepts of diffusion and osmosis. I will be removing the outer shells of the eggs and then testing one of the eggs with water and the other egg with corn syrup to determine which solution is hypertonic and which solution is hypotonic. My hypothesis is, is that the egg in the corn syrup solution will be hypertonic where the molecules will move out of the egg causing it to shrivel and the egg in the water solution will be hypotonic causing the egg to swell.
Materials and Methods
The materials needed for this experiment are 2 fresh non boiled eggs, 2 coffee mugs, Aluminum foil, vinegar, water, corn syrup, hand towel, scale, string, scissors and a ruler. Before the egg osmosis experiment can begin,