scholarly journals Determination of Diffusion Coefficients from Observations on Grenade Glow Clouds

1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 490 ◽  
Author(s):  
ER Johnson ◽  
KH Lloyd

Glows have been observed at Woomera when grenades ejected from Skylark rockets have been detonated in the altitude range 90-170 km. Using results obtained from these glows by a special scanning photometer located on the ground, an estimate has been made of the diffusion coefficient in the region 120-160 km. The theoretical model which is used to describe the behaviour of the explosion products incorporates the assumptions of molecular diffusion, a Gaussian distribution of particle density, and an optically thin cloud. The effects of consumption of the cloud particles are included in the model.

Author(s):  
W. Mark Saltzman

Drug diffusion is an essential mechanism for drug dispersion throughout biological systems. Diffusion is fundamental to the migration of agents in the body and, as we will see in Chapter 9, diffusion can be used as a reliable mechanism for drug delivery. The rate of diffusion (i.e., the diffusion coefficient) depends on the architecture of the diffusing molecule. In the previous chapter a hypothetical solute with a diffusion coefficient of 10-7 cm2/s was used to describe the kinetics of diffusional spread throughout a region. Therapeutic agents have a multitude of sizes and shapes and, hence, diffusion coefficients vary in ways that are not easily predictable. Variability in the properties of agents is not the only difficulty in predicting rates of diffusion. Biological tissues present diverse resistances to molecular diffusion. Resistance to diffusion also depends on architecture: tissue composition, structure, and homogeneity are important variables. This chapter explores the variation in diffusion coefficient for molecules of different size and structure in physiological environments. The first section reviews some of the most important methods used to measure diffusion coefficients, while subsequent sections describe experimental measurements in media of increasing complexity: water, membranes, cells, and tissues. Diffusion coefficients are usually measured by observing changes in solute concentration with time and/or position. In most situations, concentration changes are monitored in laboratory systems of simple geometry; equally simple models (such as the ones developed in Chapter 3) can then be used to determine the diffusion coefficient. However, in biological systems, diffusion almost always occurs in concert with other phenomena that also influence solute concentration, such as bulk motion of fluid or chemical reaction. Therefore, experimental conditions that isolate diffusion—by eliminating or reducing fluid flows, chemical reactions, or metabolism—are often employed. Certain agents are eliminated from a tissue so slowly that the rate of elimination is negligible compared to the rate of dispersion. These molecules can be used as “tracers” to probe mechanisms of dispersion in the tissue, provided that elimination is negligible during the period of measurement. Frequently used tracers include sucrose [1, 2], iodoantipyrene [3], inulin [1], and size-fractionated dextran [3, 4].


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. N. Vlasov ◽  
M. C. Kelley

Abstract. The turbopause region is characterized by transition from the mean molecular mass (constant with altitude) to the mean mass (dependent on altitude). The former is provided by eddy turbulence, and the latter is induced by molecular diffusion. Competition between these processes provides the transition from the homosphere to the heterosphere. The turbopause altitude can be defined by equalizing the eddy and molecular diffusion coefficients and can be located in the upper mesosphere or the lower thermosphere. The height distributions of chemical inert gases very clearly demonstrate the transition from turbulent mixing to the diffusive separation of these gases. Using the height distributions of the chemical inert constituents He, Ar, and N2 given by the MSIS-E-90 model and the continuity equations, the height distribution of the eddy diffusion coefficient in the turbopause region can be inferred. The eddy diffusion coefficient always strongly reduces in the turbopause region. According to our results, eddy turbulence above its peak always cools the atmosphere. However, the cooling rates calculated with the eddy heat transport coefficient equaled to the eddy diffusion coefficient were found to be much larger than the cooling rates corresponding to the neutral temperatures given by the MSIS-E-90 model. The same results were obtained for the eddy diffusion coefficients inferred from different experimental data. The main cause of this large cooling is the very steep negative gradient of the eddy heat transport coefficient, which is equal to the eddy diffusion coefficient if uniform turbulence takes place in the turbopause region. Analysis of wind shear shows that localized turbulence can develop in the turbopause region. In this case, eddy heat transport is not so effective and the strong discrepancy between cooling induced by eddy turbulence and cooling corresponding to the temperature given by the MSIS-E-90 model can be removed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 323-325 ◽  
pp. 289-294
Author(s):  
Patrice Berthod ◽  
Lionel Aranda

Thermogravimetry measurements associated to concentration profiles allow determining a diffusion coefficient at high temperature of the most oxidable one among the metallic elements belonging to the chemical composition of an alloy. In this work the employed method is described and applied to chromia-forming alloys essentially based on nickel but also to selected cobalt-based and iron-based alloys. More precisely DCrvalues were estimated for chromium diffusing through the carbide-free zones developed during high temperature oxidation. The effects of the base element, of the chromium carbides density and of the dendritic orientations on the chromium diffusion were evidenced.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 1225-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. A. Kashirskaya ◽  
V. A. Lotkhov ◽  
V. V. Dil’man

1963 ◽  
Vol 3 (03) ◽  
pp. 256-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.R. Bailey ◽  
W.B. Gogarty

Abstract Methods are presented for determining molecular diffusion coefficients by using data from capillary flow experiments. These methods are based on a numerical solution (presented in a previous paper) of the partial differential equation describing the combined mechanisms of flow and diffusion. Results from this numerical solution are given and compared with the approximate analytical solution of G. I. Taylor. The numerical solution is valid over a much larger time range. These methods are applied to experimental results for the fluid pairs water-potassium permanganate solution and amyl acetateorthoxylene. Both of these fluid pairs have approximately equal densities and viscosities. Graphical and numerical techniques are presented for deters mining diffusion coefficients from the flow data. Values obtained by these techniques are compared with values obtained by other methods. Introduction The molecular diffusion coefficient is known to be a variable in determining the amount of mixing in a miscible displacement process. The effect of molecular diffusion on dispersion in longitudinal flow through porous media has been examined by different investigators. These investigators concluded that at low velocities of flow, the amount of dispersion is approximately proportional to the molecular diffusion coefficient. The influence of diffusion on fingering, channeling, and overriding has been mentioned by other investigators. Recent studies have been made on the effects of molecular diffusion in connection with the problem of gravity segregation. Many different methods have been developed for the experimental determination of molecular diffusion coefficients. These methods differ mainly according to boundary conditions selected and analytical procedures used. Nevertheless, all of these methods have the condition in common that the bulk fluids in which diffusion is occurring are stationary with respect to each other. In connection with a series of papers on mixing in capillary flow, Taylor suggested the use of a flow method for determining molecular diffusion coefficients. Additional studies have been conducted on miscible displacements in capillary tubes, but the data from these studies were not used for the specific purpose of determining diffusion coefficients. The flow method proposed by Taylor results in a single value of the diffusion coefficient for the fluid pair used in the displacement experiments. This single value represents the true value for the fluid pair when the diffusion coefficient is independent of concentration. If the diffusion coefficient is a function of concentration, the single value obtained by the flow method gives an average value for the coefficient of the fluid pair. These average values are based on diffusion taking place over the entire range of concentration, i.e., from 0 per cent of one fluid to 100 per cent of that same fluid. In field applications of the miscible displacement process, gradients occur over the same range of concentration as are found in the displacements in capillary tubes. Molecular diffusion coefficients obtained from the capillary flow method should, therefore, be especially relevant to field operations. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of obtaining molecular diffusion coefficients from capillary flow experiments. In making this evaluation, diffusion coefficients were first determined for two systems from data obtained in capillary flow experiments. These values of the diffusion coefficient were then compared to values obtained by other methods. MIXING IN CAPILLARY FLOW-THEORETICAL The theoretical basis for determining molecular diffusion coefficients from capillary flow experiments is the partial differential equation relating the mechanisms of flow and diffusion. SPEJ P. 256^


In a previous theoretical paper Hartley and Robinson have pointed out what very misleading results are obtained in calculating the particle size of a dye from the diffusion coefficient if the Stokes-Einstein equation is used and the electrical forces are neglected. The complicating effect of the electrical forces on the diffusion coefficient has, of course, been realized in researches on other colloidal electrolytes. Thus Svedberg, Tizelius, Northrop, McBain and others have taken them into account in the case of proteins, while McBain and Liu pointed out that the diffusion coefficient of soaps is given by an extension of the Nernst equation. But in experiments with dyes, although many diffusion measurements were reported, this aspect of the matter had been entirely overlooked. An investigation of the diffusion coefficients of dyes is, therefore, of particular interest and also because of the light it throws on the more general problem of determination of the particle size of a colloidal electrolyte, where the particle (unlike that of the protein, which appears to be a simple molecule) consists of a number of ions in association. Many dyes are colloidal electrolytes containing multivalent complex ions. Their diffusion coefficient is consequently largely determined by the mobilities of the ions. It was shown that a minimum value for the diffusion coefficient can be calculated from the conductivity. It follows that all dyes that have high conductivities—this seems to include most, if not all, substantive dyes—must have high diffusion coefficients. Consequently, as was shown, it is not possible to obtain even a qualitative measure of the particle size from the diffusion coefficient and the Stokes-Einstein equation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 273-276 ◽  
pp. 306-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Hummelshøj ◽  
Thomas L. Christiansen ◽  
Marcel A.J. Somers

In the present paper various experimental procedures to experimentally determine the concentration dependent diffusion coefficient of carbon in expanded austenite are evaluated. To this end thermogravimetric carburization was simulated for various experimental conditions and the evaluated composition dependent diffusivity of carbon derived from the simulated experiments was compared with the input data. The most promising procedure for an accurate determination is shown to be stepwise gaseous carburizing of thin foils in a gaseous atmosphere; the finer the stepsize, the more accurate the approximation of the diffusivity. Thermogravimetry was applied to continuously monitor the weight change of thin foils of AISI 316 during carburizing in CO-H2 gas mixtures for one of the simulated experimental procedures.


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