What is a Fluid?

Fluid is a substance which can flow. Technically the flow of any substance means a continuous
relative motion between different particles of the substance. Now, how and why does a fluid
flow? The answer to "how" is the continuous relative motion between the particles of the fluid
when shear force is acting on it. And the answer to "why" is the particles of fluid move past each
other when shear force is applied because they cannot resist the shear force, i.e., they are
inelastic to shear stress. A fluid can deform under shear stress indefinitely without returning to its
original position.

Properties of Fluids
The term fluid includes both liquid and gases. The main difference between a liquid and a gas is
that the volume of a liquid remains definite because it takes the shape of the surface on or in
which it comes into contact, whereas a gas occupies the complete space available in the container
in which it is kept. In hydraulics in civil engineering, the fluid for consideration is liquid, so, we
will examine some terms and properties of the liquids.
Density:
It is the mass of the fluid per unit volume. It unit is kg per cubic meter.

Mathematically,

For a pure substance the density has the same numerical value as its mass concentration. Different
materials usually have different densitiesTo simplify comparisons of density across different systems of
units, it is sometimes replaced by the dimensionless quantity "relative density" or "specific gravity", i.e.
the ratio of the density of the material to that of a standard material, usually water. Thus a relative
density less than one means that the substance floats in water. The density of a material varies with
temperature and pressure. This variation is typically small for solids and liquids but much greater for
gases. Increasing the pressure on an object decreases the volume of the object and thus increases its
density. Increasing the temperature of a substance (with a few exceptions) decreases its density by
increasing its volume. In most materials, heating the bottom of a fluid results in convection of the heat
from the bottom to the top, due to the decrease in the density of the heated fluid. This causes it to rise
relative to more dense unheated material.

Specific Gravity:
It is defined The specific gravity is the ratio between the density of an object, and a reference
substance.

There are many factors that determine if an object will sink or float in water, and one of these
factors is what we call the specific gravity.

The specific gravity is the ratio between the density of an object, and a reference substance. The
specific gravity can tell us, based on its value, if the object will sink or float in our reference
substance. Usually our reference substance is water which always has a density of 1 gram per
milliliter or 1 gram per cubic centimeter.
Viscosity:
Viscosity is the property of fluid which defines the interaction between the moving particles of
the fluid. It is the measure of resistance to the flow of fluids. The viscous force is due to the
intermolecular forces acting in the fluid. The flow or rate of deformation of fluids under shear
stress is different for different fluids due to the difference in viscosity. Fluids with high viscosity
deform slowly.

Compressibility:
When pressure is applied on a fluid, its volume decreases. This property of a fluid is called
compressibility.

Vapor Pressure:
Molecules of a liquid escape from its surface to fill the space above the liquid surface and the
container until such time when the pressure due to these molecules above the liquid surface
reaches the vapor pressure of the liquid. This is how the vapor pressure of a liquid is defined.

Surface Tension:
The molecules on the surface of a liquid, that is, the interface between the liquid and the air are
bound together by a week force called surface tension. This force makes the liquid form a layer
and is caused due to the cohesive force between the molecules of the liquid.

Capillarity:
The molecules of a liquid have two types of forces acting on them. One is, cohesive force, the
force among the molecules of the liquid only, and the other one is adhesive force, the force
acting between the molecules of the liquid and some other substance. When the adhesion
between the liquid and the container wall is more than the cohesion among the liquid molecules,
the liquid sticks to the container walls and this results in capillary rise. The opposite of this
behavior happens when the cohesion is more than the adhesion - the capillary level dips