diffusion
Sign in to savethumb|right| Some particles are Dissolution (chemistry)|dissolved in a glass of water. At first, the particles are all near one top corner of the glass. If the particles randomly move around ("diffuse") in the water, they eventually become distributed randomly and uniformly from an area of high concentration to an area of low, and organized (diffusion continues, but with no net [[flux).]] thumb|Time lapse video of diffusion a dye dissolved in water into a gel.
AI overview
Diffusion is the process where particles randomly move around and gradually spread out from areas where they're concentrated to areas where they're sparse, until they're distributed evenly throughout. This matters because it's a fundamental way that substances mix and spread in liquids and other materials, happening naturally without any external force pushing them along.
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Article
24 sectionsContents
- Diffusion vs. bulk flow
- Diffusion in the context of different disciplines
- History of diffusion in physics
- Basic models of diffusion
- Definition of diffusion flux
- Normal single component concentration gradient
- Multicomponent diffusion and thermodiffusion
- Nondiagonal diffusion must be nonlinear
- Applied forces
- Diffusion across a membrane
- Ballistic time scale
- Jumps on the surface and in solids
- Porous media
- Diffusion in physics
- Diffusion coefficient in kinetic theory of gases
- The theory of diffusion in gases based on Boltzmann's equation
- Diffusion of electrons in solids
- Diffusion in geophysics
- Dialysis
- Random walk (random motion)
- Separation of diffusion from convection in gases
- Other types of diffusion
- See also
- References
thumb|right| Some particles are Dissolution (chemistry)|dissolved in a glass of water. At first, the particles are all near one top corner of the glass. If the particles randomly move around ("diffuse") in the water, they eventually become distributed randomly and uniformly from an area of high concentration to an area of low, and organized (diffusion continues, but with no net [[flux).]] thumb|Time lapse video of diffusion a dye dissolved in water into a gel.
thumb|250px|Diffusion from a microscopic and b macroscopic point of view. Initially, there are solute molecules on the left side of a barrier (purple line) and none on the right. The barrier is removed, and the solute diffuses to fill the whole container. Top: A single molecule moves around randomly. Middle: With more molecules, there is a statistical trend that the solute fills the container more and more uniformly. Bottom: With an enormous number of solute molecules, all randomness is gone: The solute appears to move smoothly and deterministically from high-concentration areas to low-concentration areas. There is no microscopic [[force pushing molecules rightward, but there appears to be one in the bottom panel. This apparent force is called an entropic force.]]