How does size of molecule affect diffusion?

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How does size of molecule affect diffusion?

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Answer 1 · 2015-12-01T19:27:23

$U_{r m s} = \sqrt{\frac{3 R T}{M M}}$ $U_(rms)=sqrt((3RT)/(MM))$

Explanation:

The root mean square velocity ( $U_{r m s}$ $U_(rms)$ ) of gas particles is given by the following expression:

$U_{r m s} = \sqrt{\frac{3 R T}{M M}}$ $U_(rms)=sqrt((3RT)/(MM))$

where,
$U_{r m s}$ $U_(rms)$ is the rate of diffusion
$R$ $R$ is the universal gas constant
$T$ $T$ is the temperature in kelvin
$M M$ $MM$ is the molar mass of the gas

To related this expression to the size of gas particles we can say that bigger size particles will possess high molar mass.

Since, $M M$ $MM$ is inversely proportional to the $U_{r m s}$ $U_(rms)$ , thus when $M M$ $MM$ increases, the $U_{r m s}$ $U_(rms)$ will decrease.

Therefore, we can conclude that bigger sized particles (heavy particles) will diffuse slower than lighter particles.

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How does size of molecule affect diffusion?

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