Egg Osmosis Lab Report

Eggmosis

Purpose

The purpose of this lab was to investigate osmosis effects on a real cell.

Hypothesis

If the egg is placed into corn syrup, then it will shrink.

If the egg is placed into distilled water, then it will swell.

Background Information

This lab demonstrates one type of molecular movement, passive transports, displays the effects solutions have on a cell, a chemical reaction, and how the cell membrane works.

Passive transports do not require any energy because the molecules move from an area of high concentration to low. Diffusion, a type of passive transport, is the net movement of the same kind of molecule that pass through the phospholipid bilayer. Osmosis, a type of diffusion, is the diffusion of specifically water through a selectively permeable membrane and as the concentration of water in a solution increases, the concentration of solutes will decrease.

Isotonic solutions are when the solute concentration outside of the cell is the same as it is on the inside of the cell. Water moves both in and out of the cell, there is no net water movement, and this solution has no effect on the cell. Hypertonic solutions have a higher solute concentration outside of the cell than inside, will make a cell shrink, and the net movement of water is water moving out of the cell. Hypotonic solutions are the opposite of hypertonic solutions. This solution has a higher solute concentration on the outside of the cell than the inside, the net movement of water is into the cell, and causes cells to swell and possibly