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Brownian motion

the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid resulting from their collision with the quick atoms or molecules in the gas or liquid

AI overview

Brownian motion is the random, jittery movement you can see when tiny particles floating in a liquid or gas get bumped around by the invisible atoms and molecules surrounding them. It matters because it provided early evidence that atoms and molecules actually exist and are constantly moving, which became fundamental to our understanding of how matter works.

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Wikidata facts

Image: Brownianmotion5particles150frame.gif

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Commons category: Brownian motion
time of discovery or invention: 1827-01-01

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Article

2-dimensional random walk of a silver adatom on an Ag(111) surface Simulation of the Brownian motion of a large particle, analogous to a dust particle, that collides with a large set of smaller particles, analogous to molecules of a gas, which move with different velocities in different random directions

Brownian motion is the random motion of particles suspended in a medium (a liquid or a gas). The traditional mathematical formulation of Brownian motion is that of the Wiener process, which is often itself called "Brownian motion", even in mathematical sources.