Emily C. answered • 09/24/20
Biologist with College Bio Teaching Experience
So the egg acts as a single cell, and cells have selectively permeable membranes, meaning only some stuff can pass through. Cell membranes only allow certain things to pass through them to take control over what is lost from the cell and what comes into the cell.
In this case you have corn syrup, which is basically just sugar, and sugars are HUGE molecules... way too big to pass through the cell membrane of the egg. And then you have an egg, which has some sugars and proteins inside, but also has a lot of water in it. The egg has way more water than the corn syrup solution it’s in.
Cells are always trying to achieve a state of equilibrium, meaning equal ratio of molecules on the outside of the cell versus the inside of the cell. And as we know, the ratio of sugar to water is way HIGHER in the outer corn syrup solution (more sugar:water) and the ratio of sugar to water is LOWER on the inside of the egg (less sugar:water). The cell wants to make things more equal, but the sugar molecules found in the corn syrup are too big to move! The next best thing that the egg can do is try to achieve equilibrium by moving water OUT of the egg cell to dilute the corn syrup sugar molecules to bring that sugar:water ratio down, more closely matching that of the inside of the egg. So, the egg will actually shrink from water loss.
Make sense? Feel free to message me with more questions :)
