Physics Lecture Notes on Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer

Flashcards covering key concepts from Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, and Refraction of Light.

Fluid Mechanics

The study of fluids, divided into fluid statics (forces on fluids at rest) and fluid dynamics (fluids in motion).

Fluid Statics

The branch of fluid mechanics concerned with fluids at rest.

Fluid Dynamics

The branch of fluid mechanics that studies fluids in motion.

Density

The mass of a fluid per unit volume, usually measured in kg/m³.

Pressure

The amount of force acting on a given area, expressed as P = F/A (where P is pressure, F is force, and A is area).

Hydrostatic Pressure

Pressure in a fluid at rest; given by P = ρgh, where ρ is density, g is acceleration due to gravity, and h is the depth of the fluid.

Pascal's Principle

A change in pressure at any point in a confined fluid is transmitted equally throughout the fluid.

Archimedes's Principle

A body fully or partially immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.

Laminar Flow

A type of steady flow when all fluid particles follow parallel paths with consistent speed.

Turbulent Flow

Disorderly flow where the speed and direction of fluid particles vary with time.

Bernoulli's Law

For an incompressible fluid, total mechanical energy is conserved; states that P + 1/2 ρv² + ρgh = constant.

Viscosity

A measure of a fluid's resistance to flow or deformation.

Thermal Energy

The total kinetic energy of the particles composing a substance, related to temperature.

Heat

The transfer of thermal energy from a hotter body to a colder body.

Specific Heat Capacity

The amount of heat required to change the temperature of a unit mass of a substance by one degree Celsius.

Latent Heat

The amount of heat required to change the state of a substance without changing its temperature.

Ideal Gas Law

The equation of state for an ideal gas, represented as PV = nRT where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles, R is the gas constant, and T is temperature.

Mole

A unit of measurement for quantity, defined as the amount of substance containing 6.022 x 10²³ particles.

Reflection of Light

The change in direction of light rays when they strike a reflective surface.

Refraction

The bending of light rays when they pass from one medium to another with a different index of refraction.