Students take part in interesting experiment to further their understanding of Osmosis

Year 11 Biology students conducted an experiment to determine how changes in the solute concentration surrounding a ‘naked’ chicken egg affects its mass.

The shell of a chicken egg is made of calcium carbonate. Acids such as vinegar, can remove the calcium carbonate of an eggshell creating a ‘naked’ egg. The exterior of the egg will be the semi-permeable membrane and water will move by osmosis to dilute the area with more solutes.

After approximately 48 hours soaked in vinegar, students were amazed how paper thin the eggshell became and were able to shine a light on the egg to see the yolk inside. 

Below is a list of some other examples of osmosis.

• Feeling thirsty after having salty food.
• Dialysis of kidney in the excretory system.
• Swelling of resins and other seeds when they are soaked in water.
• Movement of salt-water in the animal cell across our cell membrane.