Brownian motion of sol particles Brownian motion of sol particles Colloidal particles in a sol are continuously bombarded by the molecules of the dispersion medium on all sides. The impacts are however not equal in every direction. As a result, the sol particles show random or zig-zag movements. This random or zig-zag motion of the colloidal particles in a sol is called Brownian motion or Brownian movement. The phenomenon of Brownian motion was observed by Robert Brown in the form of random zig-zag motion of pollen grains suspended in water. This kind of movement is found in all colloidal systems. Such random motion is visible
Brownian ratchet for example lifting a weight ("m") against gravity. The energy necessary to do this work apparently would come from the heat bath, without any heat gradient. Were such a machine to work successfully, its operation would violate the second law of thermodynamics, one form of which states: "It is impossible for any device that operates on a cycle to receive heat from a single reservoir and produce a net amount of work." Although at first sight the Brownian ratchet seems to extract useful work from Brownian motion, Feynman demonstrated that if the entire device is at the same temperature, the