By Coral Pongsuwan
Image credit is Wikimedia Commons user Annatsach,
Special to the Enterprise
Plants, animals, and our body are all made up of many cells that move throughout in order to maintain life. One form of movement for cells is called passive transport, in which the cell membrane moves without using energy. We can physically observe this using the Egg Drop Experiment.
What you will need in this experiment: 3 eggs, vinegar, 5 cups, corn syrup, and water
Step by Step Experiment
1. Fill three out of five glasses with vinegar and submerge the 3 eggs into each
2. Leave all of the eggs inside the vinegar overnight
3. The next day, take out each egg
4. Use the two remaining cups and fill one with corn syrup and the other with water
5. Place one egg in each cup, and leave the other egg on the side
6. Leave all three eggs in their respective areas overnight
7. The next day, observe the different sizes of each egg
At the end, the three eggs should look vastly different in sizes. There are many different forms of passive transport, and one of them is called osmosis, which is observed in this experiment. Osmosis is a facilitated diffusion, in which water molecules throughout an organism move from high water concentration to low water concentration.
Think of each egg as a cell: Eggs do contain water, however, similar to our cells include other details such as fats and proteins. The egg that was placed into the water overnight may look bigger than the egg placed in corn syrup because the water from the egg flowed into the corn syrup, shriveling the size of the egg. What this shows us future scientists is that not only does passive transport occur, but that water is a necessity for all living things!
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