What happens if u remove an egg from water and cover it in syrup?

Question

Biology

Jack Le

2 May, 00:05

What happens if u remove an egg from water and cover it in syrup?

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Irene · Answer 1

The egg that was in the water is plump and firm. The egg that was in the corn syrup is shriveled and flabby.

After you dissolve the eggshell, the egg is surrounded by a membrane. (Actually, it’s two membranes, but they are held tightly together.) This membrane is selectively permeable-which means it lets some molecules move through it and blocks other molecules.

Water moves through the membrane easily. Bigger molecules-like the sugar molecules in the corn syrup-don’t pass through the membrane.

When you put a naked egg in corn syrup, you are creating a situation where the egg membrane separates two solutions with different concentrations of water. The egg white is about 90% water; corn syrup is about 25% water. In this situation, random movements of water molecules cause them to move from the side of the membrane where they are more abundant to the side where they are less abundant. So water migrates from inside the egg to outside the egg, leaving the egg limp and flabby.