FUNDAMENTALS 1.1. INTRODUCTION

2. FUNDAMENTALS1.1. INTRODUCTION • Man’s desire for knowledge of fluid phenomena began with his problems of water • supply, irrigation, navigation, and waterpower. • Matter exists in two states; the solid and the fluid, the fluid state being commonly • divided into the liquid and gaseous states. Solids differ from liquids and liquids from gases in • the spacing and latitude of motion of their molecules, these variables being large in a gas, • smaller in a liquid, and extremely small in a solid. Thus it follows that intermolecular • cohesive forces are large in a solid, smaller in a liquid, and extremely small in a gas.

3. 1.2. DIMENSIONS AND UNITS • Dimension = A dimension is the measure by which a physical variable is expressed • quantitatively. • Unit = A unit is a particular way of attaching a number to the quantitative dimension. • Thus length is a dimension associated with such variables as distance, displacement, • width, deflection, and height, while centimeters or meters are both numerical units for • expressing length. • In fluid mechanics, there are only four primary dimensions from which all the • dimensions can be derived: mass, length, time, and force. The brackets around a symbol like • [M] mean “the dimension” of mass. All other variables in fluid mechanics can be expressed in • terms of [M], [L], [T], and [F]. For example, acceleration has the dimensions [LT-2]. Force [F] • is directly related to mass, length, and time by Newton’s second law,