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KS3
PHYSIC
S
NAME:
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Diffusion
Starter

- What happens when you increase the temperature of water?

- How does this affect the way particles move? Do they move faster or slower?

Classwork

If someone is cooking in the kitchen, the smell travels around the house to other rooms.
This is because of diffusion, the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to
an area of low concentration. For diffusion to work, the particles must be able to move
around. This means that diffusion does not happen in solids – the particles in a solid can
only vibrate and cannot move from place to place.

Diffusion in gases
Diffusion is driven by differences in concentration. When chemical substances such as
perfume are let loose in a room, their particles mix with the particles of air. The particles of
smelly gas are free to move quickly in all directions. They eventually spread through the
whole room from an area of high concentration (lots of smelly gas particles) to an area of
low concentration (not a lot of smelly gas particles). This continues until the concentration
of the particles of smelly gas is the same throughout the room. Remember that the particles
still move, even when the smell is evenly spread.

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You do not have to mix the gases by waving your arms around - they mix on their own.
Diffusion in gases is quick because the particles in a gas move quickly. It happens even faster
in hot gases because the particles of gas move faster.
Brownian motion
Gas particles move very quickly (air particles move at 500 m/s on average at room
temperature). However, a smell does not travel this fast. This is because its particles collide
with each other and with particles of air very frequently. They change direction randomly
when they collide, so it takes much longer to travel from one place to another. Their
random motion because of collisions is called Brownian motion.
Brownian motion was come up with by Robert Brown in 1827 when he noticed that pollen
grains moved with a random, zig zag motion in water due to the fact pollen grains collided
with water molecules and were knocked about randomly whenever this happened.

Diffusion in liquids
Diffusion can also happen in liquids. This is because the particles in liquids can move around
each other, which means that eventually they are evenly mixed.
For example, potassium manganate (VII) is a purple solid. If you put a crystal of it into a jar
of water, the purple colour spreads slowly through the water. This is by diffusion. The
slideshow describes what happens.

The purple colour begins to spread from the crystal

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The colour gradually spreads through the water as diffusion happens

After a few hours, diffusion has produced a potassium manganate(VII) solution where the
concentration is the same everywhere in the solution`

Diffusion in liquids is slower than diffusion in gases because the particles in a liquid move
more slowly. It happens faster if the temperature is increased. When temperature is
increased, particles move around more and move around faster. This means the spaces
between particles get bigger so they take up more space so heating a solid, liquid or gas
causes it to expand.
When you heat a liquid the number of particles doesn’t change and particles do not get
bigger but they need more space to move about so the volume of the liquid may appear to
increase. If you heat a gas or liquid inside a container, the pressure inside the container
increases as the particles bump into the sides more often and more quickly.
Activity 1

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- What is diffusion? Explain fully.

- What affect does temperature have on the movement of particles?

- What is Brownian motion?

- Explain why if you spray perfume in one part of a room, it will eventually spread all
throughout the room. Use particle diagrams.

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- How was Brownian motion discovered?

- What has concentration got to do with diffusion?

- How does diffusion in gases compare to diffusion in liquids? Explain your answer.

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- Does diffusion happen in solids? Why?

- Why doesn’t smell travel as fast as gas particles ? What slows the particles down?

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Activity 2

- Explain your choices for the order

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Activity 3

- Come up with an example of diffusion occurring, draw particles diagrams to show it

and explain why diffusion is happening.

- Explain what you would see if you put a red solid in water as time went on. What
colour what the water become eventually.

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- Show how particles move by diffusion through the air, step by step, using the 6
boxes

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Activity 4

- Make a list of the key words and definitions from this pack and memorise them –
test yourself by writing them all out from memory on a separate piece of paper – the
list should be at least 10 words long and can be anything to do with diffusion and
states of matter.

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Activity 5

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Activity 6

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Extension

- Why does pressure inside a container increase if you heat a gas or liquid?

- Explain your answer – you may need a GCSE textbook to help you (hint = think back
to the pressure equation)

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Homework

- Research how a mercury thermometer works in terms of particles, energy, speed

and space - use a GCSE website (bbc bitesize). Draw diagrams as well and present
you work in the form of a poster. Include as much information as you can – this task
should take minimum 30 minutes.

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Test
Matter 2: Diffusion

1 Complete the following sentence. Choose from the following words: high/low

Diffusion is the movement of particles, spreading out from an area of ______________

concentration to an area of ______________ concentration.

2 Which two of the following are examples of diffusion? Tick two boxes.

The colour of a dark crystal spreading out when it is dropped in a beaker of water

A sugar cube left in a beaker of water for a while

An ice cube slowly melting

Ash and smoke particles from a bonfire spreading out through the air

3 In Figure 1 a teaspoon of salt has been added to a beaker of water.

The dots represent particles of salt.
Figure 1

(a) Label the area of high concentration of salt particles and the area of low
concentration
of salt particles.

(b) Describe what will happen to the solution in Figure 1.

_______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

4 (a) Give the name for the random movement of small particles of smoke in air.

______________________________________________________________________

(b) Describe what causes this movement.

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
Total marks ______ /10

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Activity 6
Matter 2: Answers
1 High
Low
2 The colour of a dark crystal spreading
out when it is dropped in a beaker of water.
A sugar cube is left in a beaker of
water for a while.
3

(a) For both labels correct

(b) Salt particles move from the area
of high concentration (the left) to the
area of low concentration (the right)…
…until the two sides are equally
mixed / until there is no difference in concentration.
4 Brownian motion
Gas molecules in air are moving
(very fast)…
…and hitting / colliding with / pushing
the smoke particles.

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