General Physics
Phys 1011
Chapter 03: Fluid Mechanics
Gashaw Bekele (PhD)
Department of Physics
College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Haramaya University
April, 2023
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Course Outline
1 Fluid Mechanics
3.0. Introduction
2 References
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Fluid Mechanics
3.0. Introduction
Fluids are at the core of our day-to-day lives. They are what we drink,
breath and excrete; they also circulate in our bodies.
Without fluids birds and airplanes cannot fly; fishes cannot swim;
ships and boats cannot navigate; rockets cannot propel; etc.
You cannot build hydroelectric power plants, wind turbines and
geothermal generators without understanding how fluids behave.
Ordinary matter is classified into four: solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
Solid maintain their shapes due to their ability to resist deformation.
However, fluid - the term that is used for liquid, gas and plasma is
easily deformable under an applied force.
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Fluid Mechanics
3.0. Introduction
Fluids do not maintain their shapes - a liquid flows by taking the
shape of its container and a gas expands to fill its container.
Gases are compressible (inability to hold a fixed volume), whereas
liquids are nearly incompressible (able to hold a fixed volume).
Fluid mechanics is the study of how fluids respond to an applied force
while at rest and in motion. Fluid mechanics has two branches
1. Fluid statics, in which we study fluids at rest in stable equilibrium.
2. Fluid dynamics, in which we study fluids in motion.
Fluid statics is based Newton’s first and third laws of motion to
explore crucial concepts such as density, pressure and buoyancya .
Fluid dynamics is the most complex branch of mechanics, and here we
only scratch the surface without going into great detail.
a
These physical quantities are nothing but fluid properties.
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References
1 Physics for Scientists and Engineers with modern Physics, 9th ed. -
R. A. Serway and John [Link], Jr.
2 College Physics, 11th ed. - R. A. Serway and C. Vuille.
3 University Physics with Modern Physics - H. D. Young, R. A.
Freedman and L. Ford
4 Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics - D. C.
Giancoli
5 Fundamentals of physics - D. Halliday, R. Resnick and G. Walker
6 Medical Imaging Physics, 4th ed. - W. R. Hendee and E. R. Ritenour.
7 Basic Electronics, 2nd ed. - D.C. Tayal
8 Introduction to Space Physics - M. G. Kivelson and C. T. Russell
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Thank You
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