Osmosis Experiment By Tom Miller

Simply place hotdogs in a pan of water and let them sit for several hours. They will swell up to a very large degree. The osmosis involved is due to the high salt content inside the hotdog. It places the water in the hotdog at a lower concentration than the water outside the hotdog. Water from the pan will move into meat to even things out.

You may want to experiment. Try disolving salt in the water in a second pan before placing in the hotdogs. In theory, if the salt concentrations were the same, then there would be no swelling. And if the salt concentration in the water were higher then in the dogs, the dogs should shrink by losing liquid to the water.

I am in my first year of teaching too but unfortunately, at first grade osmosis is way outside my league.