The purpose of the experiment was to determine what happened during osmosis and diffusion across membranes by using a fresh hen’s egg.
During the first step, the egg was put into the vinegar. The shell of the egg became soft and started to fall off by small pieces. The reason of the vinegar was able to remove the calcium shell was that the acetic acid in the vinegar could react and dissolve the calcium. The formula for this reaction was CaCO3 + CH3COOH –> Ca + H2O + CO2. After the egg remaining in vinegar for a few days, the size of the egg became bigger and there was less liquid left in the jar. Water moved into the egg because the egg was in a hypotonic solution that had a lower concentration of solute than the egg, water rushed into the
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Why are fresh vegetables sprinkled with water at markets?
Sprinkling vegetables with water will keep the vegetables to look fresh. After the vegetables get out of the soil, the water in their plant cells will continue losing, so the vegetables will become dry. At that time, compare to the plant cells, water is a hypotonic solution that has a lower concentration of solute than the vegetables, water will rush into the plant cells in order to balance the concentration of solute. So more water in the plant cells makes plants look nice to attract buyers.
2. Roads are sometimes salted to melt ice. What does this salting do to the plants along roadsides and
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Compare to the plants that grow along roadsides, water is a hypotonic solution that has a lower concentration of solute than the plant cells. So water will rush into the plant cells in order to balance the concentration of solute. However, if using salt to melt ice, the ice will become salted water with a high solute. If the concentration of solute in salted water is equal to the concentration of solute in plant cells, plant cells can’t get any water from the salted water. Even worse, if the concentration of solute in salted water is higher than the concentration of solute in plant cells, water becomes a hypertonic solution, water will rush out of the plants in order to balance the concentration of solute. In that case, using salt to melt ice will probably cause plants to die because of lack of