Biological Principles and Processes Second Edition

Claude A. Villee
Vincent G. Dethier
1976 W. B. Saunders Company

Diffusion may be defined as the movement of molecules from a region of high concentration to
one of lower concentration brought about by their kinetic energy of the molecules. The rate of
diffusion is a function of the size of the molecule and the temperature. Even the molecules that
make up a solid are constantly in motion. The chief difference between the three states of matter
solid, liquid and gas is simply the freedom of movement of the molecules present. The
molecules of a solid are relatively closely packed and the forces of attraction allow them to
vibrate but not to move around. In the liquid state the molecules are further apart, the
intermolecular forces are weaker, and the molecules move about with considerable freedom.
Finally, in the gaseous state, the molecules are so far apart that inter molecular forces and
molecular movement is restricted only by external barriers.
When a drop of water is examined under the microscope, the motion of the water molecules is
not evident. However, if we add a drop of India ink (which contains fine particles of carbon) we
can observe under the microscope the motion the motion of carbon particles. Each carbon
particle is constantly being bumped by water molecules, and the recoil from these bumps moves
the carbon particle in an aimless, zigzag path. This motion of small particles is termed Brownian
movement after Robert Brown, an English botanist, who first observed it when he looked
through the microscope at some tiny pollen grains in a drop of water. Brownian movement
provides a model of how diffusing particles move.
In the process of diffusion, each individual molecule moves in a straight line until it bumps into
something another molecule or the side of the container then it rebounds and moves in
another direction. Individual molecules may move at a rate of several hundred meters per second,
but each molecule can go only a fraction of a nanometer before bumping into another molecule
and rebounding. Thus the progress of any given molecule in a straight line is quite slow. The
molecules continue to move even when they have become uniformly distributed throughout a
given space