Describe the relationship between concentration and rate of diffusion. Explain.

Answer 1

Hi Loveleen!

I find it's always helpful to first think about what these words mean. When you think about concentration, think about how many particles are in a set space. The higher the amount of particles, the greater the concentration. Imagine you have two equally sized boxes. If you have 2 particles in one box, and 8 particles in the other box, the box with 8 particles will have a higher concentration of that substance.

Now let's talk about diffusion. Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. If you had an opening connecting the two boxes mentioned above, diffusion could be observed by particles moving from the box with higher concentration of particles to the box with lower concentration of particles.

Ultimately, diffusion wants to make the concentration of particles equal across all spaces. So, still using the same example as above, over time diffusion would cause the concentration be the same between the two boxes. Because there are 8 in one box and 2 in the other box, an equal concentration of particles across those spaces (the end product of diffusion) would look like 5 particles in each box.

Rate of diffusion is just how quickly that process of diffusion happens. When there is a bigger difference in concentrations between the two spaces which diffusion is occurring within, the rate of diffusion is higher. So, for example, particles would diffuse quicker (have a higher rate of diffusion) between:

a. a box with 8 particles and a box with 2 particles

than

b. a box with 4 particles and a box with 6 particles,

because the difference of the concentrations is larger in the first option than the second option.

I hope this helps! :)