Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

222.3K
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...
222.3K
Diffusion01:21

Diffusion

6.7K
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...
6.7K
Facilitated Diffusion01:16

Facilitated Diffusion

1.4K
The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...
1.4K
Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion03:48

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

31.5K
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...
31.5K
Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

5.8K
Proteins show rotational as well as lateral diffusion across the membrane. The lateral diffusion of proteins was confirmed through the cell fusion experiment where mouse and human cells were fused, resulting in hybrid cells. When the human and mouse cells fused, the specific membrane proteins on human and mouse cells were marked with the red and green-fluorescent markers, respectively. Initially, the red and green fluorescence was located on the respective hemisphere of the cell. As time...
5.8K
Assessment of Diffusion and Perfusion01:17

Assessment of Diffusion and Perfusion

1.7K
Understanding and evaluating diffusion and perfusion is critical in assessing a patient's respiratory and circulatory health. These processes play key roles in maintaining the body's internal environment, ensuring that tissues receive adequate oxygen while waste products are efficiently removed.
The Role of Diffusion in Respiration
Diffusion is the process by which molecules move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. In the respiratory system, this...
1.7K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Harnessing Higher-Dimensional Fluctuations in an Information Engine.

Physical review letters·2026
Same author

Colloidal deposits from evaporating sessile droplets: A computationally efficient framework for predicting the final deposit shape.

Physical review. E·2025
Same author

Modeling Leidenfrost Levitation of Soft Elastic Solids.

Physical review letters·2023
Same author

Rolling and Sliding Modes of Nanodroplet Spreading: Molecular Simulations and a Continuum Approach.

Physical review letters·2023
Same author

Information Engine in a Nonequilibrium Bath.

Physical review letters·2023
Same author

The nanofluidic capacitor: Differential capacitance in the absence of reservoirs.

The Journal of chemical physics·2023
Same journal

Erratum: Low-dimensional model for adaptive networks of spiking neurons [Phys. Rev. E 111, 014422 (2025)].

Physical review. E·2026
Same journal

Disentangling the effects of many-body forces on depletion interactions.

Physical review. E·2026
Same journal

Charge transport and mode transition in dual-energy electron beam diodes.

Physical review. E·2026
Same journal

Optimization of multisite reactions in complex compartmentalized media.

Physical review. E·2026
Same journal

Origin of geometric cohesion in nonconvex granular materials: Interplay between interdigitation and rotational constraints enhancing frictional stability.

Physical review. E·2026
Same journal

Interaction of walkers with a standing Faraday wave.

Physical review. E·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopic Identification of Dispersant/Particle Bonding Mechanisms in Functional Inks
10:31

Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopic Identification of Dispersant/Particle Bonding Mechanisms in Functional Inks

Published on: May 8, 2015

14.2K

Test of the diffusing-diffusivity mechanism using near-wall colloidal dynamics.

Mpumelelo Matse1, Mykyta V Chubynsky2, John Bechhoefer1

  • 1Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.

Physical Review. E
|January 20, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Diffusing diffusivity predicts non-Gaussian displacement distributions in changing environments. This study tested this mechanism using single-particle tracking of colloidal spheres near a substrate, confirming predictions for inhomogeneous diffusion.

More Related Videos

Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection
07:28

Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection

Published on: September 5, 2018

6.9K
The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
08:01

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

9.1K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopic Identification of Dispersant/Particle Bonding Mechanisms in Functional Inks
10:31

Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopic Identification of Dispersant/Particle Bonding Mechanisms in Functional Inks

Published on: May 8, 2015

14.2K
Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection
07:28

Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection

Published on: September 5, 2018

6.9K
The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
08:01

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

9.1K

Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • The behavior of particles diffusing in inhomogeneous media is crucial for understanding various physical and biological processes.
  • Standard diffusion models often assume a constant diffusion coefficient, which may not hold true in complex environments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally validate the diffusing diffusivity mechanism.
  • To investigate the displacement distribution of particles in a gradually changing diffusivity environment.
  • To directly test predictions for diffusion in inhomogeneous media.

Main Methods:

  • Single-particle tracking (SPT) was employed to monitor the movement of colloidal spheres.
  • Diffusion experiments were conducted in proximity to a planar substrate.
  • The local effective diffusivity was precisely known for analysis.

Main Results:

  • The study observed non-Gaussian displacement distributions for diffusing particles.
  • The mean-square displacement exhibited linear growth with time, consistent with theoretical predictions.
  • Experimental results directly supported the diffusing diffusivity mechanism in inhomogeneous media.

Conclusions:

  • The diffusing diffusivity mechanism accurately predicts particle behavior in environments with spatially varying diffusion coefficients.
  • Single-particle tracking provides a powerful tool for probing diffusion dynamics in complex media.
  • This research offers insights into anomalous diffusion phenomena and their underlying mechanisms.