Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Distribution of Molecular Speeds

Distribution of Molecular Speeds

The motion of molecules in a gas is random in magnitude and direction for individual molecules, but a gas of many molecules has a predictable distribution of molecular speeds. This predictable distribution of molecular speeds is known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The distribution of molecular speeds in liquids is comparable to that of gases but not identical and can help to understand the phenomenon of the boiling and vapor pressure of a liquid. Consider that a molecule requires a...

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Although gaseous molecules travel at tremendous speeds (hundreds of meters per second), they collide with other gaseous molecules and travel in many different directions before reaching the desired target. At room temperature, a gaseous molecule will experience billions of collisions per second. The mean free path is the average distance a molecule travels between collisions. The mean free path increases with decreasing pressure; in general, the mean free path for a gaseous molecule will be...

Diffusion

Diffusion

Diffusion is a type of passive transport. In passive transport, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across the space. For example, take the diffusion of substances through the air. When someone opens a perfume bottle in a room filled with people, the perfume is at its highest concentration in the bottle and is at its lowest at the edges of the room. The perfume vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the...

Diffusion

Diffusion

Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...

Carrier Transport

Carrier Transport

The generation of electrical current in semiconductors is fundamentally driven by two mechanisms: drift and diffusion. These processes are essential for the functionality and performance of semiconductor-based devices.
Drift Current:
The drift of charge carriers is started by an external electric field (E). Charged particles, such as electrons and holes, experience an acceleration between collisions with lattice atoms. For electrons, this results in a drift velocity (vd) given by:

Distillation: Vapor–Liquid Equilibria

Distillation: Vapor–Liquid Equilibria

Distillation is a separation technique that takes advantage of the boiling point properties of disparate elements in a mixture. To perform distillation, we begin by heating a miscible mixture of two liquids with a significant difference in boiling points (at least 20°C). As the solution heats up and reaches the bubble point of the more volatile component, some molecules of the more volatile component transition into the gas phase and travel upward into the condenser, which is a glass tube with...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

High Ionic Seebeck Effect in Natural Leaves.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)·2025

Same author

The Origin of Thermal Gradient-Induced Voltage in Polyelectrolytes.

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)·2023

Same author

Electroviscous drag on squeezing motion in sphere-plane geometry.

Physical review. E·2022

Same author

Unconventional Thermoelectric Materials for Energy Harvesting and Sensing Applications.

Chemical reviews·2021

Same author

Non-equilibrium properties of an active nanoparticle in a harmonic potential.

Nature communications·2021

Same author

Thermoelectric Ratchet Effect for Charge Carriers with Hopping Dynamics.

Physical review letters·2021

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

Published on: December 4, 2017

Thermal diffusion in a binary liquid due to rectified molecular fluctuations.

Simon Villain-Guillot¹, Alois Würger

¹Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine, Université Bordeaux 1 and CNRS, 351 Cours de la Libération, F-33405 Talence, France.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|April 27, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Soret motion in binary liquids is driven by rectified velocity fluctuations. This study explains the thermal diffusion isotope effect using a molecular dynamics model, linking it to temperature gradients and molecular properties.

More Related Videos

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Published on: May 15, 2017

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

Published on: December 4, 2017

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Published on: May 15, 2017

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

Area of Science:

Thermodynamics
Physical Chemistry
Statistical Mechanics

Background:

The Soret effect, or thermal diffusion, describes the mass transport in a mixture subjected to a temperature gradient.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind the Soret effect in binary liquid mixtures is crucial for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the molecular origins of Soret motion in binary liquids.
To provide a theoretical explanation for the observed thermal diffusion isotope effect.

Main Methods:

Development of a hard-bead model with elastic collisions.
Simulation of molecular behavior in a nonuniform temperature field.
Derivation of molecular forces based on temperature gradients, molecular masses, and moments of inertia.

Main Results:

Soret motion is largely attributed to rectified velocity fluctuations.
A net molecular force proportional to the temperature gradient was derived.
The force depends on the ratio of molecular masses and moments of inertia.

Conclusions:

The study provides a molecular-level explanation for Soret motion in binary liquids.
Findings align with previous numerical simulations.
The derived model explains the thermal diffusion isotope effect in liquids.