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Unit prefixes, measurements, and core rules

  • 1 mM = 10^{-3} M = 1000 μM = 10^{6} nM
  • Prefix fluency (common SI prefixes):
    • p = 10^{-12}
    • n = 10^{-9}
    • μ = 10^{-6}
    • m = 10^{-3}
    • c = 10^{-2} (centi)
    • d = 10^{-1} (deci)
    • 1 = base unit
    • k = 10^{3} (kilo)
    • M = 10^{6} (mega) [note: in chemistry, M also denotes molarity; avoid ambiguity in problems]
    • G = 10^{9} (giga)
  • Rule of thumb for body compartments (percent of body mass):
    • Total body water (TBW) ≈ 60% of body weight
    • Intracellular fluid (ICF) ≈ 40% BW
    • Extracellular fluid (ECF) ≈ 20% BW (plasma ≈ 5% BW; interstitial fluid ≈ 15% BW)
  • Ideal gas at STP: P = 1 atm, T = 273.15 K; used for gas-law estimates
  • About diffusion and transport: patterns that set rate and timing scales; relate to Fick’s law and Stokes–Einstein; diffusion time scales with distance as t ∝ L^2
  • Fast diffusion in water tends to occur for small, less hindered species; diffusion rate increases with temperature and decreases with viscosity and particle size
  • Basic gas–solid–liquid intuition helps frame how molecules move across barriers and through compartments

Diffusion, transport, and diffusion-limited processes

  • Diffusion basics:
    • Net movement of solute from high to low concentration driven by random thermal motion
    • Thermal motion is the random molecular motion due to temperature; collisions are elastic in idealized models
  • Fick’s law (through a slab):
    • Flux: J = -D rac{dC}{dx}
    • For a slab of thickness TT with concentrations C1 and C2 on each side, the rate of transfer is ext{Rate} = D rac{A (C1 - C2)}{T}
    • Here: D is the diffusion coefficient (units: L2/TL^2/T), A is area, T is thickness
  • Diffusion coefficient (D) factors:
    • D↑ with increasing temperature (T)
    • D↓ with higher solvent viscosity (η) and larger particle radius (r)
  • Stokes–Einstein equation (diffusion in liquids):
    • $$D = rac{k_B T}{6 \,
      {b1} \, 6 \infty} \, \