# 1.3: Kinds of Fluids


Some differentiate fluid from solid by the reaction to shear stress. The fluid continuously and permanently deformed under shear stress while the solid exhibits a finite deformation which does not change with time. It is also said that fluid cannot return to their original state after the deformation. This differentiation leads to three groups of materials: solids and liquids and all material between them. This test creates a new material group that shows dual behaviors; under certain limits; it behaves like solid and under others it behaves like fluid (see Figure 1.1). The study of this kind of material called rheology and it will (almost) not be discussed in this book. It is evident from this discussion that when a fluid is at rest, no shear stress is applied.

The fluid is mainly divided into two categories: liquids and gases. The main difference between the liquids and gases state is that gas will occupy the whole volume while liquids has an almost fix volume. This difference can be, for most practical purposes considered, sharp even though in reality this difference isn't sharp. The difference between a gas phase to a liquid phase above the critical point are practically minor. But below the critical point, the change of water pressure by 1000% only change the volume by less than 1 percent. For example, a change in the volume by more 5% will required tens of thousands percent change of the pressure. So, if the change of pressure is significantly less than that, Hence, the pressure will not affect the volume. In gaseous phase, any change in pressure directly affects the volume. The gas fills the volume and liquid cannot. Gas has no free interface/surface (since it does fill the entire volume).

There are several quantities that have to be addressed in this discussion. The first is force which was reviewed in physics. The unit used to measure is $$[N]$$. It must be remember that force is a vector, e.g it has a direction. The second quantity discussed here is the area. This quantity was discussed in physics class but here it has an additional meaning, and it is referred to the direction of the area. The direction of area is perpendicular to the area. The area is measured in $$[m^2]$$. Area of three–dimensional object has no single direction. Thus, these kinds of areas should be addressed infinitesimally and locally.

The traditional quantity, which is force per area has a new meaning. This is a result of division of a vector by a vector and it is referred to as tensor. In this book, the emphasis is on the physics, so at this stage the tensor will have to be broken into its components. Later, the discussion on the mathematical meaning is presented (later version). For the discussion here, the pressure has three components, one in the area direction and two perpendicular to the area. The pressure component in the area direction is called pressure (great way to confuse, isn't it?). The other two components are referred as the shear stresses. The units used for the pressure components is $$[N/m^2]$$.

Fig. 1.2 Density as a function of the size of sample.

The density is a property which requires that liquid to be continuous. The density can be changed and it is a function of time and space (location) but must have a continues property. It doesn't mean that a sharp and abrupt change in the density cannot occur. It referred to the fact that density is independent of the sampling size. Figure 1.2 shows the density as a function of the sample size. After certain sample size, the density remains constant. Thus, the density is defined as $\rho = \lim_{\Delta V\to \epsilon} \frac{\Delta m}{\Delta V}$

It must be noted that $$\epsilon$$ is chosen so that the continuous assumption is not broken, that is, it did not reach/reduced to the size where the atoms or molecular statistical calculations are significant (see Figure 1.2 for point where the green lines converge to constant density). When this assumption is broken, then, the principles of statistical mechanics must be utilized.

This page titled 1.3: Kinds of Fluids is shared under a GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

This page titled 1.3: Kinds of Fluids is shared under a GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Genick Bar-Meir via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.