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Viscosity

An important property of fluids is their viscosity.

Viscosity

Viscosity

  • The viscosity of a fluid measures how resistant the fluid is to moving or being deformed.
  • Orange juice has a low viscosity as it flows easily when you pour it into a glass.
  • Golden syrup has a high viscosity as it flows slowly when you pour it over pancakes.
Viscous drag

Viscous drag

  • Viscous drag is the frictional force you feel as you move through a fluid.
    • For objects moving in the air, this is called air resistance.
    • Viscous drag is what makes trying to run in a swimming pool so difficult.

Stokes' Law

Stokes' Law describes viscous drag.

Viscous drag

Viscous drag

  • Viscosity is the measure of how thick a fluid is.
  • When an object is moved through a viscous fluid, it will experience a resistive force known as viscous drag.
Stokes' law

Stokes' law

  • Stokes' law states that the viscous drag will be given by the equation:
    • F=6πηrv F = 6 \pi \eta r v .
    • FF is the viscous drag.
    • η\eta is the viscosity of the fluid.
    • rr is the radius of the moving object.
    • vv is the velocity of the moving object.
Limitations of Stokes' law

Limitations of Stokes' law

  • Stokes' law only applies to slow-moving and small objects.
  • Stokes' law also assumes that the object is perfectly spherical.
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Principles of Science I

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Structure & Bonding

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Properties of Substances

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Cell Structure & Function

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Working with Waves

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Waves in Communication

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Principles of Science II

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Urinary System

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Thermal Physics

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Contemporary Issues in Science

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