TITLE: What is potential in Fick's law
QUESTION [0 upvotes]: I am asked to find the potential in Fick's Law of Diffusion. As I don't speak English very well, I have no idea what that potential is.
The only thing I know is that Fick’s law applies to the diffusion of molecules across a membrane. Fick’s law is often written as $q = D\frac{\Delta C}{\Delta L}$, where q represents the flow of molecules per unit area per second, $D$ is the diffusion coefficient (or diffusivity), $\Delta C$ is the difference in the concentration across the membrane, and $\Delta L$ is the thickness of the membrane.
So what would be the potential here?

REPLY [2 votes]: The most general writing of Fick's law is :
$\vec{J} = D \vec{\nabla}\phi$
where $\vec{J}$ is the current, $D$ is the diffusion constant and $\phi$ is the flux.
Finding the potential is akin to finding $\phi$. A potential can be written in the form $\vec{\nabla}\phi$, thus $\phi$ is what you are looking for.
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