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 motion discontinuous. Albert Einstein (in one of his 1905 papers) and Marian Smoluchowski (1906) brought the solution of the problem to the attention of physicists, and presented it as a way to indirectly confirm the existence of atoms and molecules. Their equations describing Brownian motion were subsequently verified by the experimental work of Jean Baptiste Perrin in 1908. There are two parts to Einstein's theory: the first part consists in the formulation of a diffusion equation for Brownian particles, in which the diffusion coefficient is related to the mean squared displacement of a Brownian particle, while the second part consists in