11Of course, ions possess no agency and therefore cannot literally “attempt” anything. What is happening here is the normal process of diffusion whereby the random motions of individual molecules tends to evenly distribute those molecules throughout a space. If a membrane divides two solutions of differing ionic concentration, ions from the more concentrated region will, over time, migrate to the region of lower concentration until the two concentrations are equal to each other. Truth be told, ions are continually migrating in both directions through the porous membrane at all times, but the rate of migration from the high concentration to the low concentration solutions is greater than the other direction simply because there are more ions present to migrate that way. After the two solutions have become equal in ionic concentration, the random migration still proceeds in both directions, but now the rates in either direction are equal and therefore there is zero net migration.