Absorption is a term that is linked to absorb. According to Digopaul, this verb can refer to different questions: the damping exerted by a body in the face of radiation that passes through it; to the attraction developed by a solid on a liquid with the intention that its molecules can penetrate its substance; to the capacity of a tissue or a cell to receive a matter that comes from its exterior.
The notion of absorption (from the Latin absorptio) also has wider uses. It may be something that is consumed or spent entirely. For example: “The company has already absorbed all its capital”, “This case absorbs all my strength”.
Absorption can also be the act of attracting (“His speech absorbed the attention of all present”) or, applied the notion to one company, the act of acquiring or incorporating another (“Megachip absorbed the operations of its rival Conductronic”).
In chemistry, absorption is a process that separates the components of a gas from the inclusion of a solvent in a liquid state, with which it creates a solution.
For physics, absorption is a decrease in the intensity of radiation that passes through a body.
It is known as digestion, moreover, to the process of absorption of nutrients which is carried out on food ingestion; Various types of enzymes act in it, separating those elements that can be used to transform it into energy and collaborate with the normal functioning of the organism. This process is possible thanks to different interconnected organs (digestive system) where each one has a function to give the body the nutritional supplements to live.
It should be noted that within the digestive process there are several stages: ingestion (the food enters the body through the mouth), chemical and mechanical digestion (the food is crushed and bound to acidic substances secreted by the salivary glands and become a food bolus for pass through the rest of the organs of the digestive system), absorption (nutrients pass through the osmosis of the digestive system to the different areas of the circulatory and lymphatic system) and excretion (elimination of materials that have not been digested abroad).
Another use of the term absorption appears in linguistics, where it designates the phenomenon that arises when a vowel is incorporated into the sound of a consonant and, therefore, disappears.
Differences between absorption and adsorption
Regarding the DEFINITION OF the term from physics, we can say that absorption is a process in which certain elements, such as molecules, atoms or ions, pass from one state or phase to another, forming a body or material with different characteristics.. It also refers to radiation that, despite lacking volume, can be absorbed, joining the body that attracted it.
This concept is often confused with adsorption and, even, many times they are used interchangeably; however its meaning is diverse.
The term adsorption refers to a physico-chemical process in which certain elements (atoms, ions and molecules) are retained on a solid surface; it has a substance that allows it to attract these elements and create stronger chemical bonds from them.
The difference between the two concepts resides in that for absorption to occur, the elements must be transferred from one place to another through an absorbent type material, while in the case of adsorption, they are retained (except for radiation, not included) on a surface with attractive force.
