Transport Mechanism and Cell Permeability Experiment

Susan Ramsay

. BIOL 2251/L

. Professor Day

09/28/2024
 Introduction

When thinking about cell transport mechanism and osmosis, think of an egg placed
in different solutions. Each cell goes through a process called Osmosis. Osmosis is the
net movement of water across a semi permeable membrane from an area of lower
solute concentration to higher solute concentration. (Kahn Academy). So, water will
always follow where a solute concentration is higher. In this egg experiment, the cell
tonicity will be represented in each beaker. According to betts, “Tonicity is the ability of
an extracellular solution being able to move water in and out of a cell.” There are three
types of solutions: hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic. Solutions will be hypertonic to a
cell when the solute concentration is higher than the inside of a cell. It will cause the cell
to shrink because the water is leaving the cell, and then cell diminishes in size. In a
hypotonic solution, solute concentration is lower outside than inside the cell. This
causes the cell to swell because water is coming in. The cell will increase in size. Then
in an isotonic solution, there is no net movement of water. (Kahn Academy). Therefore,
no change in the cell, so everything is the same. There is the same amount of solute, so
water has no need to move. Water follows where the concentration of solute is higher.
Whether if its in the cell or outside of the Cell. Therefore, in this experiment, the eggs
will shrink or decrease in size as the sugar concentration increases.

Materials and methods

To do this experiment, there must be 6 eggs to stand for one cell, not 6 cells
undergoing cell permeability and osmosis. There must also be 6 beakers for each egg
with different amount of sucrose which is with 0%,10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and unknown
sucrose. A weight scale is needed to weigh each egg and see if the weights change.
There should be six chicken eggs with shells that has been dissolved in vinegar. The
shell stands for the cell membrane. It is selectively permeable so assume that all the
eggs have the same concentration which is based on the rate of osmosis. The goal is to
find out what the concentration is. Make sure scale starts at 0 and it is leveled. Weigh
each egg on the scale and put it in table one and record the starting weight. Then at 15-
minute intervals check the weight and record it down. After each interval for each egg.
In this experiment, up to 60 minutes were recorded. Be sure to dry off each egg before
weighing them.

Results

Chicken Eggs
4

0
0 10 20 30 40
-2
Total Weight
Change -4
(grams)
-6

-8

-10

Sucrose Concentration (%)

Table 1 weight change of eggs

Time 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Unknown

sucrose sucrose sucrose sucrose sucrose sucrose
0 81.5 g 89.7 g 83.8 g 78.2 g 90.1 g 91.6 g
15 84.5 g 91.4 g 84.0 g 77.7 g 88.8 g 92.2 g
30 86.7 g 92.9 g 84.3 g 77.4 g 88.0 g 92.5 g
45 88.2 g 93.9 g 84.6 g 77.2 g 87.3 g 92.8 g
60 89.4 g 94.7 g 84.8 g 77.1 g 86.9 g 93.2 g
 Table 2 change in weight change of eggs

Time 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Unknown

sucrose Sucros Sucrose Sucrose Sucros Sucrose
e e
0 0g 0g 0g 0g 0g 0g
15 -3g -1.7g -0.2g 0.5g 1.3g -0.6g
30 -5.2g -3.2g -0.5g 0.8g 2.1g -0.9g
45 -6.7g -4.2g -0.8g 1g 2.8g -1.2g
60 7.9 -5g -1g 1.1g 3.2g -1.6g

Table 3: Total weight change of eggs (g) vs Sucrose

Sucrose 0% 10% 20% 30% 40 %

amounts sucrose sucrose sucrose Sucrose Sucrose
Total weight -7.9g -5g -1g 1.1 g 3.2g
change

Results explained:

In table 1, The eggs in the 30% and 40% percent solution lost weight overtime. But
eggs in 0%, 10%, 20%, and unknown Sucrose gained weight overtime. In table 3, total
weight change of eggs is positive for 30% sucrose and 40% sucrose. Total change of
eggs is negative for 0% 10% and 20%.
 Discussion/Conclusion

In conclusion, the hypothesis mentioned earlier was correct. Which is, the greater
the sucrose solution is, the weight of the egg will decrease. According to table 1, the
weights end up decreasing at 30% and 40% which are higher sucrose solutions. This
will happen if a solution holds more solute than the cell, this will it shrivel. This happens
because the water will leave the cell to go where the concentration of solutes are higher,
which will make this solution hypertonic. This conclusion was made because the water
left the cell. Which is why the weight decreased. The cells in our body will shrink when
water reaches solutions that are holding higher solutes. According to table one, as more
time passes on each egg either increases or decreases, and if we leave it long enough,
it can burst or lyse. According to BD editors, “To lyse, is to break large particles into
smaller pieces.”

In tables 2 and 3, the negative numbers show water weight lost and if it is positive, it
is the weight gained. If it is negative that means it is a hypertonic solution and if it is
positive, then it is a hypotonic solution. After looking at all three charts, notice that after
20% sucrose, the cells weight decreased. Which most can say that the egg holds about
20% sucrose inside the cell. This also explains why the unknown sucrose is 20%. It also
increases in weight the same way just like the 20% sucrose. Therefore, the unknown
sucrose solution is 20%. After this was completed, there were some tests that could
have been added. It was assumed that all the eggs have the same concentration, but if
this is incorrect, this experiment can cannot be as reliable. There should be another
experiment performed to check and see if the solutes of each egg are the same on all
six chicken eggs. If it is impossible to figure out, then this experiment will not be as
reliable.
 References

Betts, J. G., Young, K. A., Wise, J. A., Johnson, E., Poe, B., Kruse, D. H., Korol, O., Johnson, J.
E., Womble, M., & DeSaix, P. (n.d.). 1.1 overview of anatomy and physiology - anatomy
and physiology 2E. OpenStax.
https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/1-1-overview-of-anatomy-
and-physiology

Khan Academy. (n.d.). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/cell-

structure-and-function/mechanisms-of-transport-tonicity-and-osmoregulation/a/
osmosis#:~:text=If%20a%20cell%20is%20placed%20in%20a%20hypertonic%20solution
%2C%20water,and%20the%20cell%20will%20swell.

Editors, BD. (2017, April 29). Lyse - definition, types and examples. Biology Dictionary.
https://biologydictionary.net/lyse/#google_vignette