Sorption

{{Short description|Physical or chemical process by which one substance becomes attached to another}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}

File:Absorption vs adsorption.svg

Sorption is a physical and chemical process by which one substance becomes attached to another. Specific cases of sorption are treated in the following articles:

; Absorption: "the incorporation of a substance in one state into another of a different state"{{cite book|editor-last=Crini|editor-first=Grégorio|editor2=Badot, Pierre-Marie|title=Sorption processes and pollution : conventional and non-conventional sorbents for pollutant removal from wastewaters|date=2010|publisher=Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté|location=Besançon|isbn=978-2848673042|page=43 }} (e.g., liquids being absorbed by a solid or gases being absorbed by a liquid);

; Adsorption: The physical adherence or bonding of ions and molecules onto the surface of another phase (e.g., reagents adsorbed to a solid catalyst surface);

; Ion exchange: An exchange of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a complex.

The reverse of sorption is desorption.