What is the Difference Between Brownian Motion and Diffusion?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚Brownian motion and diffusion are two concepts related to the movement of particles, but they have distinct differences:
- Brownian motion refers to the random movement of particles in a fluid, resulting from their continuous collision with molecules of the surrounding medium. The key characteristic of Brownian motion is that the particle does not have a specific direction to travel.
- Diffusion, on the other hand, is the movement of a substance from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. In diffusion, the particles travel in a specific direction, which is from high concentration to low concentration.
In summary, the main difference between Brownian motion and diffusion is that Brownian motion involves random, directionless movement of particles, while diffusion involves the directed movement of particles from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. Despite these differences, both concepts involve the random movement of particles, and Brownian motion can contribute to the overall process of diffusion over time.
Comparative Table: Brownian Motion vs Diffusion
Brownian motion and diffusion are two distinct phenomena related to the random movement of particles in a medium. Here is a table highlighting the differences between them:
| Feature | Brownian Motion | Diffusion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brownian motion refers to the random movement of particles in a medium, such as a gas or liquid, resulting from collisions with the molecules of the medium | Diffusion is the random migration of molecules or small particles arising from motion due to thermal energy |
| Direction | In Brownian motion, particles move in a random direction, not in a fixed one | In diffusion, particles move in the direction of high concentration to low concentration |
| Cause | Brownian motion is caused by the random thermal motion of particles in a medium, such as gas or liquid | Diffusion is caused by the movement of particles in response to a concentration gradient, typically from areas of high concentration to low concentration |
| Energetics | In Brownian motion, the energy exchanged during a collision is typically much smaller than the thermal energy of the medium | In diffusion, the energy exchanged during a collision is larger than the thermal energy of the medium, and the particles move a non-trivial distance in a non-random fashion |
In summary, Brownian motion is a random process resulting from the continuous collisions between particles and the molecules of the medium, while diffusion is a directed process driven by a concentration gradient. Diffusion is often explained by the continuous random jumps of particles buffeted by the disordered motion of the medium.
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