Question

20. Based on your observations and what you have learned in this experiment, what would happen to

the egg if you placed it in a 40% saltwater solution (the egg has a 5% salt concentration)?

Answer 1

If you placed the egg, which has a 5% salt concentration, in a 40% saltwater solution, a process called osmosis would occur. Osmosis is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solute concentration.

In this case:

The egg, with its 5% salt concentration, has a lower solute concentration compared to the 40% saltwater solution.

The 40% saltwater solution has a higher solute concentration.

As a result, water would tend to move from the egg into the surrounding saltwater solution. This would cause the egg to lose water and shrink as water moves out of the egg through its semipermeable membrane.

In summary, if you placed the egg with a 5% salt concentration into a 40% saltwater solution, the egg would likely shrink as water moves out of it through osmosis due to the concentration gradient, resulting in a loss of water from the egg.