Physics: Stokes' law

Stokes' law In fluid dynamics, Stokes' law gives the frictional force – also called drag force – exerted on spherical objects moving at very small Reynolds numbers in a viscous fluid.

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Stokes' law In fluid dynamics, Stoke s' law gives the frictional force – also called drag force – exerted on spherical objects moving at very small Reynolds numbers in a viscous fluid.

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Why does Stokes' law matter? This principle is one of the building blocks physicists use to explain the world. Without it, a whole class of phenomena would have no mathematical description. Engineers, chemists, and astronomers all rely on it.

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Background: Stokes' law In fluid dynamics, Stokes' law gives the f rictional force – also called drag force – exerted on spherical objects moving at very small Reynolds numbers in a viscous fluid. It was derived by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851 by solving the Stokes flow limit for small Reynolds numbers of the Navier–Stokes equations.