s' = '1 cP'#.įor example, the viscosity of water at 20 ☌ is #'1.Many chemists still use an old unit of viscosity, the poise (P), named after the French physician Jean Poiseuille. s'^'-1'#, then the fluid has a viscosity #eta = '1 Pa.Imagine filling a beaker with turbine oil and another with a thick. If a fluid is placed between two #'1 m'^2# plates that are 1 m apart and one plate is pushed sideways with a force of 1 N and it moves at a velocity of #1color(white)(l) 'm An oils kinematic viscosity is defined as its resistance to flow and shear due to gravity. Thus, the units of viscosity are #('N' × color(red)(cancel(color(black)('m'))))/('m'^2 × color(red)(cancel(color(black)('m'))) In terms of the above diagram, the formula for viscosity #eta# is One way to measure viscosity is to place the fluid between two flat parallel plates and slide one plate past the other. We usually think of the viscosity of a liquid as its 'thickness'.įor example, we say that honey is 'thicker' (has a higher viscosity) than water. The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to flow.
