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Fick's first law relates the diffusive flux to the gradient of the concentration. It postulates that the flux goes from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration, with a magnitude that is proportional to the concentration gradient (spatial derivative), or in simplistic terms the concept that a solute will move from a region of high concentration to a region of low ...
The diffusion coefficient is the coefficient in the Fick's first law = /, where J is the diffusion flux (amount of substance) per unit area per unit time, n (for ideal mixtures) is the concentration, x is the position [length].
Typically, a compound's diffusion coefficient is ~10,000× as great in air as in water. Carbon dioxide in air has a diffusion coefficient of 16 mm 2 /s, and in water its diffusion coefficient is 0.0016 mm 2 /s. [1] [2] Diffusivity has dimensions of length 2 / time, or m 2 /s in SI units and cm 2 /s in CGS units.
Knudsen diffusion, named after Martin Knudsen, is a means of diffusion that occurs when the scale length of a system is comparable to or smaller than the mean free path of the particles involved. An example of this is in a long pore with a narrow diameter (2–50 nm) because molecules frequently collide with the pore wall. [ 1 ]
The Fourier number can be derived by nondimensionalizing the time-dependent diffusion equation.As an example, consider a rod of length that is being heated from an initial temperature by imposing a heat source of temperature > at time = and position = (with along the axis of the rod).
The diffusion equation is a parabolic partial differential equation. In physics, it describes the macroscopic behavior of many micro-particles in Brownian motion , resulting from the random movements and collisions of the particles (see Fick's laws of diffusion ).
Another method to describe the motion of a Brownian particle was described by Langevin, now known for its namesake as the Langevin equation.) (,) = (,), given the initial condition (, =) = (); where () is the position of the particle at some given time, is the tagged particle's initial position, and is the diffusion constant with the S.I. units ...
The Sherwood number (Sh) (also called the mass transfer Nusselt number) is a dimensionless number used in mass-transfer operation. It represents the ratio of the total mass transfer rate (convection + diffusion) to the rate of diffusive mass transport, [1] and is named in honor of Thomas Kilgore Sherwood.