Osmosis/Diffusion Biology

Osmosis/Diffusion Assignment:

Part A: The pictures below represent cells (ovals) in a beaker. The concentrations of water and solutes inside and outside the cell are given. Assume the solute is able to diffuse through the semi-permeable membrane.

1.

What (if any) net movement of substances will be seen? What direction is this movement?

2.

What (if any) net movement of substances will be seen? What direction is this movement?

Part B: As part of a lab experiment, you place 3 eggs (regular chicken eggs) in a jar of vinegar to dissolve the shell. What you are left with is a large cell (the membrane around the egg, and the material inside). You conduct a series of experiments, and obtain the following data:

Egg was placed in:	Observations:
Plain water	Egg swelled until it was much larger than it was at the start
Corn syrup	Egg shrunk until it was much smaller than it was at the start
Dilute salt water solution	No change

Explain what happened when the egg was put into the plain water solution, using correct terminology. Your explanation should include the tonicity of the solution compared to the egg.

Explain what happened when the egg was put into the corn syrup solution, using correct terminology. Your explanation should include the tonicity of the solution compared to the egg.

Explain what happened when the egg was put into the dilute salt water, using correct terminology. Your explanation should include the tonicity of the solution compared to the egg.

Give one way to improve the reliability of this experiment.