Cellular Transport Worksheet

Name of group mates: Plaza, Marie Gabrielle

Reginio, Pierce
Rogando, Matthew
Santos, Camille
Instructions:
1. Immerse 15 quail eggs in vinegar for 24-48 hours or until its outer covering has dissolved.
2. Group the eggs by threes and get the mean weights of each group of eggs.
3. Prepare 5 different solutions and label the containers;
A. 200ml distilled water
B. 200ml distilled water + 1g salt
C. 200ml distilled water + 2g salt
D. 200ml distilled water + 4g salt
E. 200ml distilled water + 8g salt
4. Place your different groups of eggs to different solutions. Make sure that each egg is fully
immersed in the solutions.
5. Record the changes in weight every 2 hours for 10 hours. Tabulate the results.
6. Create a graph and compute for the percentage change of weight.

Null Hypothesis: The salt with water solution and water only solution do not have the same
result since the water solution will be bigger heavier in weight.

Alternative Hypothesis: The salt with water solution and water only solution have the same
result since the water solution will be bigger heavier in weight.

CHANGES OF WEIGHT (EGGS IN WATER AND SALT SOLUTION)

A B C D E
0 hours 41g 32g 37g 41g 39g
2 hours 43g 33g 38g 42g 43g
4 hours 45g 36g 39g 43g 40g
6 hours 45g 35g 39g 43g 42g
8 hours 44g 36g 38g 42g 42g
10 hours 45g 36g 39g 42g 42g
Average 43.833g 34.667g 38.334g 42.167g 41.333g

GRAPH OF THE CHANGE IN WEIGHT (EGGS IN WATER AND SALT SOLUTION)

 *in grams (g)

PERCENTAGE CHANGE OF WEIGHT (EGGS IN WATER AND SALT SOLUTION)

A B C D E
0 hours
2 hours 4.8780% 3.125% 2.7027% 2.381% 10.2564%
4 hours 5.6512% 9.0909% 2.5641% 2.3256% 6.9767%
6 hours 0% 2.777% 0% 0% 5%
8 hours 2.2222% 2.8571% 2.5641% 2.3256% 0%
10 hours 2.2727% 0% 2.6316% 0% 0%

GRAPH OF PERCENTAGE CHANGE OF WEIGHT (EGGS IN WATER AND SALT SOLUTION)

*in percentage (%)

Questions:
1. What happened to the eggs after being immersed in vinegar? Why?
The outer shell of the egg was dissolved. The semi-permeable inner membrane of the egg
was exposed since the vinegar solution has an acetic acid which causes the egg to undergo chemical
reaction. The calcium carbonate found in eggs and the acetic acid in the vinegar creates chemical
reaction where it breaks down the calcium carbonate into calcium acetate, carbon dioxide and water,
thereby dissolving the hard shell and making the inner membrane as the outermost part of the egg in
this experiment.

2. Is there a trend in your graph? Why?

Yes, this is because each group all increases in terms of their weight value. During the last
two hours, the egg reaches its heaviest weight although there are times that the egg decreases in size
which is directly dependent on the kind of solution. The graph shows how the three eggs in each
container changes and such trend occurs because water is a hypotonic solution, with that
semi-permeable membrane only accepts small molecules like water to enter the cell. This makes the
egg larger since water goes inside it. On the other hand, the water with salt is a hypertonic solution
because the cell cannot enter the semi-permeable egg membrane since salt is a larger molecule which
leads to a smaller size of egg, causing water to go out of the cell.

3. At any given point did the weight of the eggs plateau? Why?
All of the following has 0% weight change: At the 6th hour, the eggs in group A stayed at a
weight of 45 grams. During the 10th hour, the eggs remains at the same level for group B, with 36
grams. While group C remained at a weight of 39 grams and within the 6th hour. Although group D,
has 42 grams of weight in the 10th hour. And lastly, group E consequently had 42 grams from the 8th to
the 10th hour

The occurrence of plateau in the eggs are constant because it has reached equilibrium.
Therefore active transport occurs since energy is needed to move molecules at different
concentration. When molecules like water and salt moved from different concentrations, diffusion
will take place until a point where there is no change of reaction between the egg and water as well
as the water with salt and egg. For example, a water has lower concentration and it will spread
towards the semi-permeable membrane that has higher concentration, leading to a state of
equilibrium. A state of equilibrium happens when the backward and forward motion of different
concentration will eventually have the same rate.

4. Compare the results of group A and group E is there a big difference in their weights? Why?
After 10 hours, group A gained a total of 4 grams (from 41 to 45 grams) while group E only
gained 3 grams (from 39 to 42 grams). This shows that group A gained a larger number of weight
compared to group E has lesser value. This is because when water is in contact with the egg, the
water easily flows through the semi-permeable membrane causing it to be bigger or heavier.
Opposite of this occurrence would be the water with salt solution since the semi-permeable
membrane can’t fit larger molecules inside it, which leads water in the egg to flow out (dilute solution
to concentration solution).

Conclusion:
Through this experiment, we can then understand the process of osmosis and diffusion because
we are able to visualize what happens when different solutions are evident in a semi-permeable cell
membrane. We saw how the quail eggs are selectively permeable and it changes overtime, whether it
decreases and increases in weight and size and how the process of osmosis and diffusion occurs.
Through graphs, we can also see that the change of weight in eggs happens by using grams scale. We
noticed that group A with no salt turned out to have the biggest gained weight since it is in a
hypotonic solution in which smaller molecules like water can flow easily through the semi-permeable
membrane. While a hypertonic solution cannot completely go inside the semi-permeable membrane
since salt is a larger molecule compared to water, therefore is does not increase in size as much as the
group A one. Furthermore, a chemical reaction took place between the vinegar and egg because
calcium carbonate reacts with acetic acid, wherein a higher concentration (vinegar) moves in to a
lower concentration (cell membrane)

With that, we realized how osmosis is important in the process between cells. This is because all
living things use osmosis as a tool to move water into and out of their cells. If our body has too much
salt, it will not function properly resulting to the lost of water. In the same way, too much hypotonic
solution in the body can cause us to burst or expand. This is why it is essential for us to realize how
balance in the environment is needed and for diffusion to happen.