Egg Diffusion Lab

Egg Diffusion Lab

In this experiment, we put one egg in a hypertonic solution, and the other egg in a hypotonic solution. This experiment showed us diffusion working right in front of us. The following contains the data we collected and information about the experiment and diffusion.

The mass and circumference of the egg shrunk when the sugar concentration was increased. When the egg was placed into sugar water, a hypertonic reaction occurred. The sugar water made there be a higher concentration of solute outside of the egg than inside of the egg. The inside of the egg has a lower concentration of solute inside of the egg. Since the solute cannot pass through the membrane, the solvent does. This is diffusion, more specifically in this case it is passive diffusion. This means that no energy is exerted by the cell in order to make this happen. The egg constantly wants to be in equilibrium, so the solvent leaves the egg in order to achieve this, thus shrinking the egg.

A cell’s internal environment changes as its external environment changes because the cell wants to be in equilibrium. It then either releases or gains more solvent to achieve this. When it releases solvent, that is a hypertonic reaction. When the cell gains solvent, it is a hypotonic reaction.

This lab demonstrates the biological principle of diffusion. Diffusion is the movement of small molecules from high concentration to low, through the lipid bilayer. The water from outside of the egg caused a hypotonic reaction and the water diffused into the egg. That is why the egg had grown in deionized water. When the egg was in a hypertonic solution, in this case the sugar water, the egg lost water due to diffusion and thus shrunk in size.

Fresh vegetables are sprinkled with water at markets because the water diffuses into the vegetables and this keeps the vegetables fresh. This stops them from becoming dry, shriveled, and unappetizing. When roads are salted to melt ice, it damages the plants along the roadside. The salt is hypertonic so the water inside of the plants diffuse out of the plant, leaving the plant dehydrated. The plant will then most likely die.

I would want to test different types of food, such as a tomato in place of the egg, and see if the hypertonic and hypotonic solutions have the same effect on that food than the effect the solutions had on the egg. I hypothesize that the hypertonic and hypotonic solutions would have a similar effect on the tomato as they did on the egg.