Introduction: Cells have an outer covering called the cell membrane.

This
membrane is selectively permeable; it has tiny pores or holes that allow objects to
move across it. The cell membrane controls what moves in and out of the cell. Food
and oxygen move into cells across the cell membrane through the process of
diffusion. Diffusion is movement of a substance from an area of high concentration
to an area of low concentration. Osmosis is a special type of diffusion; it is the
diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane. Osmosis occurs when
water moves from an area where it is more concentrated to an area where it is less
concentrated. In this lab you will be using an egg with the shell removed. The shellless egg will represent a cell and its selectively permeable membrane. You will
remove the shell of the egg by soaking the egg in vinegar. The egg shell is made up
of the mineral calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate dissolves in acids such as
vinegar. During this process it releases the gas carbon dioxide. After the shell has
been dissolved, only the membrane will remain around the egg.
The cell membrane protects the contents of the cell from the extra-cellular
environment. The cell membrane also acts as a selectively permeable membrane,
controlling the materials that enter and leave the cell. Molecules like water, oxygen,
and carbon dioxide are able to easily pass in and out of the cell through the cell
membrane while other molecules like specific proteins are strictly kept in or out of
the cell. Materials move into and out of cells through either passive transport or
active transport. Passive transport includes the processes of diffusion and osmosis.
In both forms of passive transport, molecules tend to move from a more crowded to
a less crowded area in order to achieve a balance without using energy. Movement
occurs when there are unequal concentrations of a substance inside and outside of
the cell. Active transport is the movement of molecules from a less crowded to a
more crowded area with the use of energy. Molecules are "carried" into or out of the
cell using some of the cell's energy. Diffusion is the main process by which small
molecules move across the cell membrane. Diffusion is defined as the process by
which molecules move from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower
concentration. Osmosis refers to the specific diffusion of water through a selectively
permeable membrane. Remember that molecules tend to move from an area of
higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. In osmosis, water molecules
move by diffusion from an area where they are highly concentrated to an area
where they are less concentrated.

Purpose: To soak an egg in various liquids and observe how the size of the egg
changes as it gains or loses water through the membrane. Materials: Raw egg, 300
ml vinegar, tap water, salt water, and a liquid of your choice, metric tape, balance,
plastic container to hold egg, beaker, marker, masking tape Hypothesis: Predict how
the egg will respond when it is soaked in: 1. Vinegar: 2. Sugar Water: 3. Salt Water:
4. List some liquids that you would like to soak the egg in:
Oxidizing and Reducing Agents Strong oxidizing agents and strong reducing agents
are also chemicals that warrant respect. An oxidizing agent is a substance that

oxidizes something else; it is itself reduced. Likewise a reducing agent reduces

something else; it is itself oxidized in the reaction. Reactions involving oxidation and
reduction are termed oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. You will be learning
more about what these terms mean in terms of electron transfer next week. In this
laboratory we will experiment with household bleach (Clorox), which is a potent
oxidizing agent; household bleach is a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl.
As mentioned above, nitric acid and sulfuric acid are oxidizing acids; thus part of
their reactivity is due to their ability to oxidize other substances.
Sodium hypochlorite is a chemical compound with the formula NaClO. It is composed of
a sodium cation (Na+
) and a hypochloriteanion (ClO
); it may also be viewed as the sodium salt of hypochlorous acid. When dissolved in water it is
commonly known asbleach, or liquid bleach.[1] Sodium hypochlorite is practically and chemically
distinct from chlorine.[2] Sodium hypochlorite is frequently used as a disinfectant or a bleaching agent.

Eggs contain something called "calcium carbonate". This is what makes

them hard.
Vinegar is an acid known as acetic acid.
When calcium carbonate (the egg) and acetic acid (the vinegar)
combine, a chemical reaction takes place and carbon dioxide (a gas) is
released. This is what the bubbles are made of.
The chemical reaction keeps happening until all of the carbon in the egg
is used up -- it takes about a day.
When you take the egg out of the vinegar it's soft because all of the
carbon floated out of the egg in those little bubbles.
If you were using a raw egg, once the shell has softened, you can place
the egg in water and it'll absorb and expand via osmosis until the shell
finally bursts. (Thanks to James for sharing this tip!)

When you submerge an egg in vinegar, the shell dissolves. Vinegar contains acetic acid, which breaks
apart the solid calcium carbonate crystals that make up the eggshell into their calcium and carbonate

parts. The calcium ions float free (calcium ions are atoms that are missing electrons), while the
carbonate goes to make carbon dioxidethe bubbles that you see.

The reaction of the eggshell and the vinegar is an acid-base reaction. Calcium
carbonate, a base, reacts with the acid in the vinegar to make carbon dioxide.
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.

Osmosis is a process in which solvent molecules flow through a semipermeable membrane. This
membrane allows the passage of the solvent, but not the solutes.
Water flows from the region of low solute concentration (hypotonic) to high solute concentration
(hypertonic). The movement of solvent through a membrane produces a pressure called the osmotic
pressure. The movement of the solvent through the membrane will continue until an equilibrium is
met. This happens when the pressure in the compartment into which the solvent is flowing is raised to
the equivalent of the pressure of the solvent moving through the membrane from the hypotonic side
(osmotic pressure).
Osmosis is a colligative property in that it depends on the concentrations of the solutes, but not the
identity of the solutes.
The solution inside the egg membrane contains a complex solution of salts, proteins, lipids and
carbohydrates. Compared to distilled water, the solution within the egg membrane is hypertonic.
Therefore when the decalcified egg is placed in water, the water flows through the membrane into the
egg.
A concentrated sugar solution is hypertonic compared to the solution inside the egg. Therefore when
the egg is placed in the concentrated sugar solution water flows out of the egg, causing it to shrivel.