Viscosity

In continuum mechanics, viscosity is a property of a fluid that quantifies the resistance force acting on fluids when there is relative motion between fluid parcels. This resistance force is caused by the stress in fluid parcels, which ideally is directly proportional to the strain rate that arises when fluid parcels are in relative motion, and the relative speed between the boundary between adjacent fluid parcels is zero. In liquids, viscosity arises from cohesive molecular forces, while in gases it results from molecular collisions.

Except for the case of superfluidity, there is no fluid with zero viscosity, and thus all fluid flows involve viscous effects to some degree.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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