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In cell biology, diffusion is a main form of transport for necessary materials such as amino acids within cells. [1] Diffusion of solvents, such as water, through a semipermeable membrane is classified as osmosis. Metabolism and respiration rely in part upon diffusion in addition to bulk or active processes.
The concept of diffusion is widely used in many fields, including physics (particle diffusion), chemistry, biology, sociology, economics, statistics, data science, and finance (diffusion of people, ideas, data and price values). The central idea of diffusion, however, is common to all of these: a substance or collection undergoing diffusion ...
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 higher the diffusivity (of one substance with respect to another), the faster they diffuse into each other. 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]
Multicomponent diffusion is diffusion in mixtures, and diffusiophoresis is the special case where we are interested in the movement of one species that is usually a colloidal particle, in a gradient of a much smaller species, such as dissolved salt such as sodium chloride in water. or a miscible liquid, such as ethanol in water.
Imbibition is a special type of diffusion that takes place when liquid is absorbed by solids-colloids causing an increase in volume. Water surface potential movement takes place along a concentration gradient; some dry materials absorb water. A gradient between the absorbent and the liquid is essential for imbibition.
However, because water is a polar molecule this process of simple diffusion is relatively slow, and in tissues with high water permeability the majority of water passes through aquaporin. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Peter Agre for the discovery of aquaporins [ 6 ] and Roderick MacKinnon for his work on ...
Self-diffusion describes the diffusive motions of molecules within themselves e.g. the movement of a water molecule in water. According to the IUPAC definition, [1] the self-diffusion coefficient of medium is the diffusion coefficient of a chemical species in said medium when the concentration of this species is extrapolated to zero concentration.