When can Stokes' law be used for motion in a liquid?

In summary, Stoke's law assumes that the fluid is conserved, that it has no sources where new fluid appears or sinks where fluid disappears. Then every change in the amount of a fluid in a region must come from flow across the boundary of the region.
  • #1
ManFrommars
17
0
Hello,
Could anyone tell me what assumptions are made about conditions in the derivation of Stokes' law ( F = 6(pi)(eta)rv )? Also, how is the Ladenburg correction for motion in a fluid derived from/related to this? I have searched high and low on the net and in libraries, but I'm not coming up with anything useful for some reason... any help would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
Stoke's law assumes that the fluid is conserved, that it has no sources where new fluid appears or sinks where fluid disappears. Then every change in the amount of a fluid in a region must come from flow across the boundary of the region.
 
  • #3
Hi, thank you for he reply. I'm not sure what you mean though... could ou possibly clarify?
Cheers
 
  • #4
ManFrommars said:
Hi, thank you for he reply. I'm not sure what you mean though... could ou possibly clarify?
Cheers

A source is a point in space where fluid is appearing, say a faucet or something like that. A sink is a point where fluid is disappearing, like a drain. Nonconserved fluids have sources and sinks. For example if you treat heat as a fluid you have this problem because for example of the specific heat of materials, so heat can appear or disappear upon change of state, without temperature changing. So heat in the atmosphere is not a conserved fluid and you aren't gauranteed that Stoke's theorem will work for that.

Think about what you have in Stoke's theorem. One side is an integral over the volume of some region, right? And the other is an integral over the bounding surface of that volume. And what are the integrands? Really look at them and try to explain to yourself what they mean physically.
 
  • #5
Stokes' integral theorem is not the same as Stokes' law of resistance, which seems to be the subject of the original question.
Stokes' classical law for the resistance acted upon a sphere by a viscous fluid, may formally be seen as the force consistent with the first-order approximation in a perturbation series solution of the (stationary) Navier-Stokes equations with the Reynolds number as the perturbation parameter.
That is, Stokes' law is a good approximation as long as Re<<1 (strongly viscous fluids).
We use separation of variables (spherical coordinates) in the tedious derivation of the velocity field and pressure distribution.
Stokes' law follows from the calculated pressure distribution.

I haven't heard the name "Ladenburg correction" before; presumably, it is simply a higher-order perturbation solution of N-S.
 

FAQ: When can Stokes' law be used for motion in a liquid?

What is Stokes' law and when is it used?

Stokes' law is a mathematical equation that describes the motion of a small sphere through a viscous fluid. It is used when the Reynold's number, which is a dimensionless quantity that represents the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces, is less than 1. This means that the fluid is viscous enough to dominate the motion of the sphere.

What are the assumptions made in using Stokes' law?

Stokes' law assumes that the fluid is incompressible, the flow is laminar, and the particle is small enough that its motion does not significantly affect the fluid flow. It also assumes that the particle is spherical and has a smooth surface.

Can Stokes' law be used for all types of fluids?

No, Stokes' law is only applicable for Newtonian fluids, which are fluids that have a constant viscosity regardless of the applied shear stress. Examples of Newtonian fluids include water and oil.

How accurate is Stokes' law for predicting motion in a liquid?

Stokes' law is accurate for small particles moving at low velocities in a fluid. However, for larger particles or faster velocities, the assumption of laminar flow may not hold true and other factors such as turbulence may need to be considered.

Is Stokes' law only used for spherical particles?

While Stokes' law was developed for spherical particles, it can also be applied to other shapes by using an equivalent spherical diameter. This is the diameter of a sphere that has the same volume as the non-spherical particle. However, this may result in less accurate predictions.

Back
Top