An Egg-cellent Osmosis Experiment
Background:
Homeostasis is the tendency of a system, especially the physiological system of higher animals, to maintain internal stability, owing to the coordinated response
of its parts to any situation or stimulus that would tend to disturb its normal condition or function. To maintain homeostasis within cells, water, ions and
molecules must travel into, and out of, the phospholipid bilayer. One type of cellular transport is osmosis, or the movement of water into and out of the cell
determined by the concentration of solutes in the surrounding environment.
Purpose:
To understand osmosis you will make observations about an egg. You will by studying the effects different concentrations of fluids on the weight/mass of a
deshelled egg.
Procedure
Stage 1- Deshelling the egg
 Materials:
o 1 cup
o 1 egg
o Vinegar
o Scale
o Parafilm
1. Place your egg in your cup
2. Cover the egg with the vinegar
3. Cover the cup with parafilm, let sit for 2-3 days
Stage 2- Solutions set up
 Materials:
o Deshelled egg
o Cleaned cup
o Parafilm
o Assigned solution
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Dump vinegar in sink and gently clean egg clean too harshly and it will break
Rinse out cup
Weigh the egg on the scale make sure to clean the scale before and after
Record the weight in your assigned concentration box on the chart under “Weight before”
Put egg back into cup and fill the cup ¾ of the way with your assigned solution, cover in parafilm and let sit for 1-2 days
Hypothesis 1: What do you think is going to happen to your egg? Is it going to get larger, smaller, or stay the same? Why?
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10. Hypothesis 2: What trend do you predict to see for all the eggs? (look at the data table for all the different solutions) Explain.
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Stage 3- Final weigh in
 Materials:
o Deshelled egg
o Wet paper towels (for cleaning)
o Scale
11. Empty solution into the sink
12. Gently pat dry egg rub too harshly and it will break
13. Weigh egg and record the weight in your assigned concentration box on the chart under “Weight after”
Graph
 Scatter plot- dots only, no lines
 One color for each concentration
o Make sure there is a key indicating what color symbolizes which concentration
Conclusion
 Write a formal lab conclusion for this lab
 Make sure to include a data table and a graph in your paragraph.
Data TableNames of Group Members
Assigned
Solution
Group 1
100% syrup
Group 2
80% syrup
Group 3
60% syrup
Group 4
40% syrup
Group 5
20% syrup
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9
Group 10
20%
vinegar
40%
vinegar
60%
vinegar
80%
vinegar
100%
vinegar
Benson
Reg. Water
Mass of Egg Before
Mass of Egg After
Change in weight
% Change