What is Diffusion?
According to the kinetic-molecular theory, gas particles are always in continuous, rapid, random motion. The constant zipping around of gas particles cause them to spread out to fill the container uniformly. Diffusion is the process by which particles of matter fill a space because of random motion. Have you ever seen the process of diffusion with your own eyes? Well, if you have ever played with food coloring, you know that if you place a drop of the food coloring into a liquid, you will notice that the drop slowly travels and gets lighter in color as it goes through the liquid by diffusing. Although you may have never seen what I just talked about, your sense of smell is dependent on diffusion of air current for you to detect molecules of a gas what pass by your nose. For example, if you have ever waited in a car that is being filled with a gas as the gas station, you will most likely be able to smell the gas because it is diffusing throughout the air around you. This is also evident
Diffusion, also called molecular diffusion, is the process by which molecules of a given substance move from an area of relatively high concentration to an area of lower concentration. When the molecules have diffused so that they are in a uniform concentration, this state is called equilibrium. This phenomenon plays a key role in many disciplines of biology, physics, and chemistry. It is closely related to the way in which cells take up nutrients, thus life could not exist without it. Regardless of the state of matter that a group of molecules finds itself in, all the molecules are moving to some degree. They not only move, but they do so randomly, in no particular pattern. This random motion is what allows diffusion to occur. We can easily observe diffusion in action by placing a drop of colored dye in a glass of water. At first, the dye is more or less concentrated in one area. Soon, however, due to random molecular motion, it spreads throughout the water until it reaches equilibriu
Diffusion, being the spontaneous spreading of matter (particles), heat, or momentum, is one type of transport phenomena. Diffusion is the movement of particles from higher chemical potential to lower chemical potential (chemical potential can in most cases of diffusion be represented by a change in concentration). It is readily observed for example when dried food like spaghetti is cooked; water molecules diffuse into the spaghetti strings, making them thicker and more flexible. It is a physical process rather than a chemical reaction, which requires no net energy expenditure. In cell biology, diffusion is often described as a form of passive transport, by which substances cross membranes. Examples of diffusion * A balloon filled with helium will deflate a little bit every day, because helium atoms diffuse out of the balloon through its wall * When spaghetti is cooked, water molecules diffuse into the spaghetti strings, making them thicker and more flexible. Adding salt to the water re
Diffusion is one of those really, really important concepts which is impossible to understand first off, but when you’ve got your head round it, it’s about as simple as things come! And it’s used in so many aspects of science, that understanding it is an incredible help. Put most simply, diffusion is the even spreading of something – that is, if you have a huge amount of something in one small area, then the diffusion of that particular substance would mean that it would be spreading out to occupy a larger area. When a small drop of ink falls into a beaker of water, the ink diffuses out as it fills the water. When someone breaks wind, the smell diffuses through the room as it spreads out. The strict definition of diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high density to an area of low density, or the movement of a substance down its concentration gradient. This is basically just a posh way of saying that things move from where there’s lots of it to where there’s not much o
Diffusion is one of the fundamental processes by which material moves. It is thus important in biology and medicine, chemistry and geology, engineering and physics, and in just about every aspect of our lives. Diffusion is a consequence of the constant thermal motion of atoms, molecules, and particles, and results in material moving from areas of high to low concentration. Thus the end result of diffusion would be a constant concentration, throughout space, of each of the components in the environment. Of course there are also processes that generate inhomogeneity, even while diffusion is smoothing things out, and the world we live in is the sum of both. The speed of mixing by diffusion depends on three main parameters: 1. temperature 2. size (mass) of the diffusing particles 3. viscosity of the environment The temperature of a system is a measure of the average kinetic energy, the energy due to movement, of the particles in the system (the distinction between particles, molecules, and
