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This is a list of well-known dimensionless quantities illustrating their variety of forms and applications. The tables also include pure numbers , dimensionless ratios, or dimensionless physical constants ; these topics are discussed in the article.
Dimensionless quantities, or quantities of dimension one, [1] are quantities implicitly defined in a manner that prevents their aggregation into units of measurement. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Typically expressed as ratios that align with another system, these quantities do not necessitate explicitly defined units .
The term fundamental physical constant is sometimes used to refer to some universal dimensionless constants. Perhaps the best-known example is the fine-structure constant , α , which has an approximate value of 1 / 137.036 .
The constants listed here are known values of physical constants expressed in SI units; that is, physical quantities that are generally believed to be universal in nature and thus are independent of the unit system in which they are measured. Many of these are redundant, in the sense that they obey a known relationship with other physical ...
Dimensionless numbers (or characteristic numbers) have an important role in analyzing the behavior of fluids and their flow as well as in other transport phenomena. [1] They include the Reynolds and the Mach numbers, which describe as ratios the relative magnitude of fluid and physical system characteristics, such as density, viscosity, speed of sound, and flow speed.
The term "physical constant" refers to the physical quantity, and not to the numerical value within any given system of units. For example, the speed of light is defined as having the numerical value of 299 792 458 when expressed in the SI unit metres per second, and as having the numerical value of 1 when expressed in the natural units Planck ...
Derived quantities can be expressed in terms of the base quantities. Note that neither the names nor the symbols used for the physical quantities are international standards. Some quantities are known as several different names such as the magnetic B-field which is known as the magnetic flux density , the magnetic induction or simply as the ...
Mathematically, a scalar field on a region U is a real or complex-valued function or distribution on U. [1] [2] The region U may be a set in some Euclidean space, Minkowski space, or more generally a subset of a manifold, and it is typical in mathematics to impose further conditions on the field, such that it be continuous or often continuously differentiable to some order.