The WDS eighth grade just finished up their unit on cells working together. They learned about ways in which important molecules enter and exit the cell via the cell membrane. In the final lab experiment of the unit, students soaked an egg in vinegar in order to take the hard shell off, leaving only the egg’s semi-permeable membrane which allowed them to simulate a cell-like environment.

For the next part of the lab, students measured the mass of two different eggs before and after soaking in hypotonic (water) and hypertonic (corn syrup) solutions for one day.

Finally, at the end of the lab, students weighed the egg after it soaked in each solution and witnessed the egg that had been soaked in corn syrup shrink dramatically, and the egg that had been soaked in water expand. This was a fun way to solidify their understanding of osmosis through a cell membrane!