Biology – 3.1 Diffusion | e-Consult

The food coloring will diffuse across the water over time. Initially, the food coloring is highly concentrated in the area where it was added. This creates a concentration gradient, with a higher concentration of food coloring on one side and a lower concentration on the other. The movement of the food coloring molecules is due to random movement; the molecules are constantly moving in all directions. However, because there are more food coloring molecules in the area of high concentration, the overall movement of molecules will be from the high concentration area to the low concentration area. This diffusion process will continue until the food coloring is evenly distributed throughout the water, meaning the concentration gradient is no longer present.