Question

What happens if an egg is kept in two beakers containing pure water and saturated salt solution?Why?​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Osmosis happens when a solvent, like distilled water, diffuses across a membrane into a solution that has a higher concentration of some solute, like salt water. Eggs are a model system for demonstrating osmosis because the thin membrane that lies underneath the shell is permeable to water, providing a system that changes volume as water passes in or out of the egg's interior.

Goal of the Experiment

Inside the egg membrane is a concentrated solution of proteins and water. When the egg is soaked in distilled water, osmosis causes water to diffuse into the egg to equalize the concentration of water on both sides of the membrane, and the egg increases in volume. If that same egg is then soaked in concentrated salt water, osmosis causes the water to diffuse back out of the egg, and the egg decreases in volume. The goal of the experiment is to demonstrate the process of osmosis by measuring the change in volume of the egg and then relate this to how water moves in and out of living cells.

Time Requirements

Answer 2

Explanation:

When the egg is soaked in pure water, osmosis causes water to diffuse into the egg to equalize the concentration of water on both sides of the membrane, and the egg increases in volume. If that same egg is then soaked in saturated salt salt solution, osmosis causes the water to diffuse back out of the egg, and the egg decreases in volume.