Once again, as the concentration of this gas increases within the cell, it diffuses outwards towards capillaries where the force of flowing blood removes the excess gas from the tissue region. Through a process of passive diffusion, without the active involvement of any other molecule oxygen passes through the capillary membrane and enters cells.Ĭells utilize oxygen in the mitochondria for aerobic respiration, which generates carbon dioxide gas as a byproduct. By the time blood flows into capillaries in the muscle or liver, for instance, there is only a single layer of cells separating this oxygen from hepatocytes or skeletal muscle fibers. In biological systems, diffusion occurs at every moment, across membranes in every cell as well as through the body.įor example, oxygen is at a higher concentration inside arteries and arterioles, when compared with the oxygen levels in actively respiring cells. Examples of Diffusionĭiffusion is an important part of many biological and chemical processes. Diffusion happens slowly and only across the small surface of interaction between the two fluids. However, the same phenomenon is not seen when immiscible liquids like petrol and water are mixed together. This can even be observed visually by the addition of different colored dyes to each of the liquids. For instance, when water is mixed with glycerol, over time the two liquids diffuse radially into each other. Similarly, two miscible liquids will also diffuse into each other to form a uniform solution. The same gas would diffuse slightly more slowly in a liquid such as water and slowest in a solid. Similarly, if a canister of liquid nitrogen leaks a little, nitrogen gas that escapes would quickly diffuse into the atmosphere. An example of this is the way the noxious smell of ammonia gas spreads in air. For instance, a gas diffuses very quickly in another gas. The rate of diffusion depends on the nature of interaction between the medium and material.
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