Lab Report

How do Various Liquids Affect the

Concentration of Water Inside and Outside
of an Egg?

Vinegar, Karo Syrup, Water

By: Harriet Hollinghurst

Background:
Whenever two different solutions are separated by a selectively permeable membrane, an
osmotic system is established. Each cell, therefore, represents an osmotic unit.

Purpose:
To observe the effects of osmosis on an animal membrane.

Question:
How do various liquids affect the concentration of water inside and outside of an egg?

Variables:
Independent Variable (IV): Type of liquid the egg is submerged in
Dependent Variable (DV): Mass of the egg
Controlled Variable (CV): Temperature of the liquid, amount of liquid, balance,
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaai egg, beaker type

Equipment:
● 1 Egg
● 200 ml Vinegar
● 200 ml Karo Syrup
● 200 ml Distilled Water
● 2 Beaker

Hypothesis:
If the egg is submerged in vinegar then karo syrup then water, I think that it will have the most
water in the egg after it was submerged in water then vinegar and finally karo syrup.

Method:
Day 1
1. Carefully mass your egg. Record the results in the data table.
2. Measure 200 mL of vinegar and pour into your cup. Record this amount under “Volume
added” in the data table. Nothing is recorded in the “Volume remaining” column for the first day.
3. Place your egg into the cup. Record observations in the data table.
Day 4
4. Observe your egg and record in data table.
5. Carefully remove your egg from the vinegar, rinse gently with water then mass it. Record
mass.
6. Observe your egg and record in data table
7. Measure the amount of vinegar remaining in your cup. Record in the data table under
“Volume remaining”.
8. Measure 200 mL of syrup and place into your cup. Record volume added. Carefully place
your egg into the syrup.
Day 5
9. Observe your egg. Record observations. Carefully remove your egg from the syrup, rinse with
water and mass. Record.
10.Measure the amount of syrup remaining in your cup – use your fingers to wipe the syrup out
the cup into the beaker. Record. Pour the syrup down the large sink in the back. Run warm water
while pouring to ensure the sink doesn’t stop up. Clean your table with warm soap and water.
Use warm soap and water to clean the beaker you used to measure the syrup.
11.Measure 200 mL of distilled water and place into your cup.
Day 6
12.Observe your egg. Record observations. Carefully remove your egg and mass. Record.
13. Measure the amount of water remaining in your cup. Record.

Results:

Day Date Mass Volume Volume Observations

(g) Added Remaining
(ml) (ml)
1 02/02/18 66.8 200 ------------- Egg sunk to the bottom, bubble form
on the outside of the egg
4 02/05/18 101 56 175 No egg shell left, slimy, almost see
through, inflated, floats in karo syrup
5 02/06/18 57.8 50 225 Egg deflated, sinks to the bottom of the
distilled water, cloudy membrane
6 02/07/18 97.4 50 150 Inflated egg, cloudy white colour, soft
bouncy ball feeling, white film covering the
egg
 30
0

2
0
0

1
0
0

Conclusions:

My hypothesis was not supported because I thought that the egg would absorb the most water
molecules when put in the distilled water but actually more water went into the egg when the egg
was soaked in vinegar.

1. Vinegar is made of acetic acid and water. When the egg was placed
in vinegar, which way did the water molecules move? How do you
s
a
M

know this?
The water molecules moves into the egg because the mass of the egg increased from
66.8g to 101g even though it lost its shell. The amount of vinegar in the beaker decreased
from 200ml to 175ml. Since we placed a piece of aluminium foil on the top of the beaker
the water in the vinegar could not have evaporated because it would not be able to get out
of the beaker so it would have had to move into the egg.

2. After the egg was placed in syrup, which way did the water molecules move – in
or out of the egg? Using the correct terminology, describe what condition exists for
the egg.
The water molecules moved out of the egg. The concentration of water molecules to
solutes is meant to be the same on each side of the phospholipid bilayer and since the
amount of water in karo syrup is less than 10%, water would have to move out of the egg
to make the same concentration of water molecules to soute.

3. How can you explain the amount of liquid remaining when the egg was
removed from the syrup?
The amount of liquid remaining was the karo syrup and the water molecules that moved
out of the egg to equalize the concentration of water molecules to solutes.

4. When the egg was placed in the water after being removed from the syrup,
which way did the water move?
The water moved into the egg.

Pictures: