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Biology vocabulary · Cells and Levels of Organization

Diffusion

Meaning in biology, with examples

/dɪˈfjuːʒən/nounCommon term

In biology, diffusion means: The net movement of particles from an area where they are more concentrated to an area where they are less concentrated, without the cell using energy.

In Turkish: difüzyon

How it is used

A form of passive transport: particles move down a concentration gradient. Facilitated diffusion uses channel or carrier proteins. Compare active transport, which moves substances against the gradient and uses ATP. The verb is diffuse.

Example sentences

  1. Oxygen moves from the alveoli into the blood by diffusion.

  2. The rate of diffusion increases with temperature.

Common collocations

  • simple diffusion
  • facilitated diffusion
  • rate of diffusion
  • concentration gradient
  • diffuse across
  • osmosisThe movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane from a dilute solution into a more concentrated one, until the concentrations become more equal.
  • cell membraneThe thin, flexible layer that surrounds every cell and controls what enters and leaves it. It is built mainly from a double layer of phospholipids with proteins set into it.
  • ATPShort for adenosine triphosphate, the molecule that cells use to store and transfer energy. Breaking off one of its phosphate groups releases energy for cell work.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cells and Levels of Organization

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