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Difference between adsorption and absorption

I found this comic posted on the door of a professor in the Analytical Chemistry department at TU Dresden, and it explains the difference between:

Adsorption: is a physical or chemical process by which atoms, ions or molecules are trapped or retained on the surface of a material.

and

Absorption: is a physical or chemical process in which atoms, molecules or ions pass from a first phase to a second phase, incorporating themselves into the volume of the second phase."

Posted on 30 March 2007
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