But flip flopping doesn't take place at the same rate that lateral diffusion takes place. In fact, lateral diffusion takes place much more quickly than transverse diffusion does. The question is why? Well, to see why, let's compare these two diagrams. Remember, when we have lateral diffusion the movement of these phospholipids doesn't actually break the net bonds between the water molecules and the polar heads. And likewise, the hydrophobic interactions within the tail region actually remains the same when they move along that horizontal direction.