Question

Q.Take two beakers A and B whick are half filled with water add few ml of honey and ink to the two beakers respectively.
1.Which diffuses faster?
2.Why is there difference in rate of diffusion?

Answer 1

Dear student,

1) The ink and water will diffuse faster because the ink has very small particles in it and it occupies space in between the molecules of water but honey is denser than water and its Viscosity is more than water. That's why ink diffuses faster than honey.

2) Rate of diffusion depends on four factors-

a) Temperature- Increasing the temperature increases the diffusion rate by adding energy to each particle. This is because particles with more energy bounce against each other more frequently and spread evenly throughout the material volume. Similarly, lowering the temperature will lower the diffusion rate by lowering the energy of each particle.

b) Concentration difference- The rate of diffusion depends on the difference between concentrations across the host material, with higher concentration differences resulting in higher diffusion rates.

c) Diffusion distance- The rate of diffusion is inversely related to the distance through which the material is diffusing. That is, smaller distances result in faster diffusion rates and larger distances result in slower diffusion rates.

d) Diffusing and Host materials- Diffusion rate also depends on both the material that is diffusing and the material it is diffusing through. At a certain temperature, all particles have the same average energy. This means that lighter atoms, such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen travel faster and are more mobile than larger atoms such as copper or iron. Materials made of these lighter atoms diffuse faster than heavier materials.


​​​​​​Regards