Brownian motion
- The Kinetic Theory of Matter, which simply says that all matter is made up of tiny particles, was discovered almost by accident
- The Scottish scientist Robert Brown first described the random motion of pollen grains in water, which he saw under a microscope
- This observation could not be explained at the time, but later it was realised that it shows that substances are made of particles which are in constant motion (hence 'kinetic')
Brownian Motion: the random motion of particles (e.g. pollen) when observed through a microscope
- Brownian motion is the random movement of particles in a liquid or a gas produced by large numbers of collisions with smaller particles which are often too small to see
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- When small particles (such as pollen or smoke) are suspended in a liquid or gas, they can be observed through a microscope moving around in a random, erratic fashion