Diffusion? What powers diffusion? it seems to be hugely important for bodily functions as well as atomically and possibly astronomically
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Imagine a cup of water. While it looks still, the water molecules are actually moving around, bumping into each other, hitting the sides of the container, sometimes speeding up, sometimes slowing down. This movement is part of the reason you can dip your finger into the cup and the water will move out of the way (unlike ice, where the molecule are moving much less). The average speed at which the molecules are moving is related to the temperature. A higher temperature means they are moving faster (on average).
Now picture dripping a single drop of dye or food coloring into the water. Rather than stay as a single drop, it starts to spread out. This is diffusion. The dye molecules are also moving around, bouncing into each other and the water molecules. The dye will slowly diffuse and spread through the water in a largely random way.
This is the simplest form. You can also have things diffuse through a membrane – imagine putting a mesh screen in the cup and then only dropping the dye on one side. It will take a bit longer for it to diffuse to the other side, since the mesh interrupts or blocks some of the movement, but as long as the holes are big enough to allow molecules through, it will eventually spread throughout the cup.
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