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Tag: conservation of mass

Adventures in Your Kitchen Sink: Stream Thinning

Adventures in Your Kitchen Sink: Stream Thinning

Turn on your faucet. Go on, I’ll wait. Make sure you keep the speed of the water low enough that the water still appears clear (i.e. laminar). Now consider the diameter of the stream near the faucet and then closer to the basin. You should notice that the stream thins as it flows down into the sink. How strange! Stream thinning is not just a quirk of your sink! It is, in fact, a consequence of the very fundamental law…

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Relating the Continuity Equation in the Eulerian Frame & Lagrangian Frame

Relating the Continuity Equation in the Eulerian Frame & Lagrangian Frame

The continuity equation in fluid dynamics says that mass is conserved throughout a fluid (mass flux in = mass flux out). Because a fluid is a continuous medium, there are different frames of reference to observe it properties, and this will affect how the continuity equation is calculated. In the Eulerian frame of reference, we focus on a fixed region of interest and allow the fluid to flow in and out and observe its properties. The only way to change…

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