Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/233

215 215 When two fluids are capable of being mixed, they cannot remain in equilibrium with each other ; if they are placed in contact with each other the process of mixture begins of itself, and goes on till the state of equilibrium is attained, which, in the case of fluids which mix in all proportions, is a state of uniform mixture. This process of mixture is called diffusion. It may be easily observed by taking a glass jar half full of water and pouring a strong solution of a coloured salt, such as sulphate of copper, through a long-stemmed funnel, so as to occupy the lower part of the jar. If the jar is not disturbed we may trace the process of diffusion for weeks, months, or years, by the gradual rise of the colour into the upper part of the jar, and the weakening of the colour in the lower part. This, however, is not a method capable of giving accurate measurements of the composition of the liquid at different depths in the vessel. For more exact deter minations we may draw off a portion from a given stratum of the mixed liquid, and determine its composition either by chemical methods or by its specific gravity, or any other property from which its composition may be deduced. But as the act of removing a portion of the fluid inter feres with the process of diffusion, it is desirable to be able to ascertain the composition of any stratum of the mixture without removing it from the vessel. For this purpose Sir W. Thomson places in the jar a number of glass beads of different densities, which indicate the densities of the strata in which they are observed to float. The principal objection to this method is, that if the liquids contain air or any other gas, bubbles are apt to form on the glass beads, so as to make them float in a stratum of less density than that marked on them. M. Voit has observed the diffusion of cane sugar in water by passing a ray of plane.-polarized light horizontally through the vessel, and determining the angle through which the plane of polarization is turned by the solution of sugar. This method is of course applicable only to those substances which cause rotation of the plane of polarized light. Another method is to place the diffusing liquids in a hollow glass prism, with its refracting edge vertical, and to determine the deviation of a ray of light passing through the prism at different depths. The ray is bent downwards on account of the variable density of the mixture, as well as towards the thicker part of the prism ; but by making it pass as near the edge of the prism as pos sible, the vertical component of the refraction may be made very small ; and by placing the prism within a vessel of water having parallel sides of glass, we can get rid of the constant part of the deviation, and are able to use a prism of large angle, so as to increase the part due to the diffus ing substance. At the same time we can more easily control and register the temperature. The laws of diffusion were first investigated by Graham. The diffusion of gases has recently been observed with great accuracy by Loschmidt, and that of liquids by Fick and by Voit. Diffusion as a molecular motion. If we observe the process of diffusion with our most powerful microscopes, we cannot follow the motion of any individual portions of the fluids. We cannot point out one place in which the lower fluid is ascending, and another in which the upper fluid is descending. There are no currents visible to us, and the motion of the material substances goes on as imperceptibly as the conduction of heat or of electricity. Hence the motion which constitutes diffusion must be distinguished from those motions of fluids which we can trace by means of floating motes. It may be described as a motion of the fluids, not in mass, but by molecules. When we reason upon the hypothesis that a fluid is a continuous homogeneous substance, it is comparatively easy to define its density and velocity; but when we admit that it may consist of molecules of different kinds, we must revise our definitions. We therefore define these quantities by considering that part of the medium which at a given instant is within a certain small region sur rounding a given point. This region must be so small that the properties of the medium as a whole are sensibly the same throughout the region, and yet it must be so large as to include a large number of molecules. We then define the density of the medium at the given point as the mass of the medium within this region divided by its volume, and the velocity of the medium as the momentum of this portion of the medium divided by its mass. If we consider the motion of the medium relative to an imaginary surface supposed to exist within the region occupied by the medium, and if we define the flow of the medium through the surface as the mass of the medium which in unit of time passes through unit of area of the surface, then it follows from the above definitions *bat the velocity of the medium resolved in the direction of the normal to the surface is equal to the flow divided by the density. If we suppose the surface itself to move with the same velocity as the fluid, and in the same direction, there will be no flow through it. Having thus defined the density, velocity, and flow of the medium as a whole, or, as it is sometimes expressed, &quot; in mass,&quot; we may now consider one of the fluids which constitute the medium, and define its density, velocity, and flow in the same way. The velocity of this fluid may be different from that of the medium in mass, and its velocity relative to that of the medium is the velocity of diffusion which we have to study. Diffusion of Gases according to the Kinetic Theory. So many of the phenomena of gases are found to be explained in a consistent manner by the kinetic theory of gases, that we may describe with considerable probability of correctness the kind of motion which constitutes dif fusion in gases. We shall therefore consider gaseous diffusion in the light of the kinetic theory before we con sider diffusion in liquids. A gas, according to the kinetic theory, is a collection of particles or molecules which are in rapid motion, and which, when they encounter each other, behave pretty much as elastic bodies, such as billiard balls, would do if no energy were lost in their collisions. Each molecule travels but a very small distance between one encounter and an other, so that it is every now and then altering its velocity both in direction and magnitude, and that in an exceedingly irregular manner. The result is that the velocity of any molecule may be considered as compounded of two velocities, one of which, called the velocity of the medium, is the same for all the molecules, while the other, called the velocity of agi tation, is irregular bath in magnitude and in direction, though the average magnitude of the velocity may be calculated, and any one direction is just as likely as any other. The result of this motion is, that if in any part of the medium the molecules are more numerous than in a neighbouring region, more molecules will pass from the first region to the second than in the reverse direction, and for this reason the density of the gas will tend to become equal in all parts of the vessel containing it, except in so far as the molecules may be crowded towards one direction by the action of an external force such as gravity. Since the motion of the molecules is very swift, the process of equalization of density in a gas is a very