The purpose of this experiment is to study how water and other molecules enter and leave cells. Water has the ability to move in and out cells through the process of osmosis. The methods performed include using three different solutions: Gatorade, Karo syrup, and Coca-Cola. A decalcified egg is submerged for various amounts of time in each solution and weighed, using an electronic scale, to calculate the percent weight change. The results for each solution showed that the egg did take on additional mass due to the solution being hypotonic. Although each solution forced the egg to take on water gaining mass, Coca-Cola was the solution that forced the greatest increase in the search to find equilibrium. The results fail to reject the hypothesis
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To achieve osmosis all that is needed are three ingredients. First there needs to be a semipermeable membrane and two solvents with varying concentrations on each side of the membrane. A solvent is simply something that can dissolve solutes to form a solution. All these words sound similar and complicated but the most common solvent is water. Solutes commonly include salt or sugar and when the water dissolves the salt or sugar this becomes a solution (Gemma, 2014). The solvents will flow from the side with low solute concentration to the side of high solute concentration. This process is something that happens naturally and is vital for many cells (Phillips, 2013). In fact, many people have watched the process of osmosis and didn’t even realize it! A practical sample of osmosis is the pruning of a persons fingers or toes after a swim. A persons fingers wrinkle due to the outside water source being less concentrated that the water in the body. The external water attempts to cause equilibrium and enter the body. Pruned fingers are a sign of this process being attempted …show more content…
Other items include a marker, four plastic cups, an electronic scale, Coca Cola, Gatorade, and Karo syrup and a clock or timer. The students may also find paper and pencil necessary to record and keep track of any data found during the experiment.
After gathering all the needed materials, first plug in the electric scale and ensure the scale reads 0.0g with nothing on it. Next, place each decalcified egg in one of the plastic cups and find each of the masses using the scale. This information should be recorded for future reference. Now it is time to submerge each egg by pouring enough of each liquid into individual cups over the top of the eggs. The students then set a timer for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes passed each liquid was poured off of the egg and the egg was weighed again. The students recorded this information in their tables. After each new mass was found they calculated the percent weight change by using the following formula:
(Weight After Each Immersion – Initial Weight/Initial Weight) x
To achieve osmosis all that is needed are three ingredients. First there needs to be a semipermeable membrane and two solvents with varying concentrations on each side of the membrane. A solvent is simply something that can dissolve solutes to form a solution. All these words sound similar and complicated but the most common solvent is water. Solutes commonly include salt or sugar and when the water dissolves the salt or sugar this becomes a solution (Gemma, 2014). The solvents will flow from the side with low solute concentration to the side of high solute concentration. This process is something that happens naturally and is vital for many cells (Phillips, 2013). In fact, many people have watched the process of osmosis and didn’t even realize it! A practical sample of osmosis is the pruning of a persons fingers or toes after a swim. A persons fingers wrinkle due to the outside water source being less concentrated that the water in the body. The external water attempts to cause equilibrium and enter the body. Pruned fingers are a sign of this process being attempted …show more content…
Other items include a marker, four plastic cups, an electronic scale, Coca Cola, Gatorade, and Karo syrup and a clock or timer. The students may also find paper and pencil necessary to record and keep track of any data found during the experiment.
After gathering all the needed materials, first plug in the electric scale and ensure the scale reads 0.0g with nothing on it. Next, place each decalcified egg in one of the plastic cups and find each of the masses using the scale. This information should be recorded for future reference. Now it is time to submerge each egg by pouring enough of each liquid into individual cups over the top of the eggs. The students then set a timer for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes passed each liquid was poured off of the egg and the egg was weighed again. The students recorded this information in their tables. After each new mass was found they calculated the percent weight change by using the following formula:
(Weight After Each Immersion – Initial Weight/Initial Weight) x