Convection is the collective motion of particles in a fluid and actually

encompasses both diffusion and advection.

Advection is the motion of particles along the bulk flow
Diffusion is the net movement of particles from high concentration to low
concentration
e typically describe the above two using the partial differential equations:
∂ψ/∂t+∇⋅(uψ) =0= advection)
∂ψ/∂t =∇⋅(D∇ψ)( (diffusion)
where ψψ is the quantity in consideration, uu is the fluid velocity
and DD the diffusion coefficient(sometimes called the diffusivity).
here are some nuances to the combined effect for convection (e.g., forced,
natural, gravitational mechanisms), but the general definition for it is the
total motion.
As mentioned in the related
question physics.stackexchange.com/q/24489/2451, convection generally
involves the idea of a heat transfer in the flow which is responsible of
the collective motion. – Lalylulelo Mar 5 '15 at 15:41
@Lalylulelo: You are speaking from a thermodynamics point of view. From
a fluid dynamics point of view (which is mine, as it's the focus of my
research), convection is as I defined it: the collective motion of a
fluidregardless of cause. – Kyle Kanos Mar 5 '15 at 15:51
convection = diffusion + advection.
That is, convection is the sum of fluid movement due to bulk transport of the
media (like the water in a river flowing down a stream - advection) and the
brownian/osmotic dispersion of a fluid constituent from high density to
lower density regions (like a drop of ink slowly spreading out in a glass of
water - diffusion).
One easily visualized example of advection is the transport of ink dumped
into a river. As the river flows, ink will move downstream in a "pulse" via
advection, as the water's movement itself transports the ink. If added to a
lake without significant bulk water flow, the ink would simply disperse
outwards from its source in a diffusive manner, which is not advection. Note
that as it moves downstream, the "pulse" of ink will also spread via
diffusion. The sum of these processes is called convection
.
Convection is the heat transfer due to bulk movement of molecules within
fluids such as gases and liquids, including molten rock (rheid). Convection
takes place through advection, diffusion or both.

Diffusion is the net movement of molecules or atoms from a region of high

concentration to a region of low concentration as a result of random motion
of the molecules or atoms. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in chemical
potential of the diffusing species.