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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 .
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 Euler number (Eu) is a dimensionless number used in fluid flow calculations. It expresses the relationship between a local pressure drop caused by a restriction and the kinetic energy per volume of the flow, and is used to characterize energy losses in the flow, where a perfect frictionless flow corresponds to an Euler number of 0.
Alternatively, one can use the power input to the system used to move the system at a constant velocity . The cost of transport is non-dimensional. The cost of transport is non-dimensional. It is also called specific tractive force or specific resistance (see von Kármán–Gabrielli diagram ), or the energy index.
One nat is about 1.44 shannons. For a simple compressible system that can only perform volume work, the first law of thermodynamics becomes = +. But one can equally well write this equation in terms of what physicists and chemists sometimes call the 'reduced' or dimensionless entropy, σ = S/k, so that
In the study of heat conduction, the Fourier number, is the ratio of time, , to a characteristic time scale for heat diffusion, .This dimensionless group is named in honor of J.B.J. Fourier, who formulated the modern understanding of heat conduction. [1]
The relative activity of a species i, denoted a i, is defined [4] [5] as: = where μ i is the (molar) chemical potential of the species i under the conditions of interest, μ o i is the (molar) chemical potential of that species under some defined set of standard conditions, R is the gas constant, T is the thermodynamic temperature and e is the exponential constant.