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In physics, a characteristic length is an important dimension that defines the scale of a physical system. Often, such a length is used as an input to a formula in order to predict some characteristics of the system, and it is usually required by the construction of a dimensionless quantity, in the general framework of dimensional analysis and in particular applications such as fluid mechanics.
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. The length of a line segment connecting two points on the circle and passing through the centre is called the diameter.
[n 1] These definitions generally include the fluid properties of density and viscosity, plus a velocity and a characteristic length or characteristic dimension (L in the above equation). This dimension is a matter of convention—for example radius and diameter are equally valid to describe spheres or circles, but one is chosen by convention.
[1]: 336 A value between one and 10 is characteristic of slug flow or laminar flow. [2] A larger Nusselt number corresponds to more active convection, with turbulent flow typically in the 100–1000 range. [2] A similar non-dimensional property is the Biot number, which concerns thermal conductivity for a solid body rather than a fluid.
Ptolemy used a circle of diameter 120, and gave chord lengths accurate to two sexagesimal (base sixty) digits after the integer part. [2] The chord function is defined geometrically as shown in the picture. The chord of an angle is the length of the chord between two points on a unit circle separated by that central angle.
In geometry, the circumference (from Latin circumferens, meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. The circumference is the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to a line segment. [1] More generally, the perimeter is the curve length around any closed figure.
This selection of characteristic length can be used to present a distinction between Strouhal number and reduced frequency: St = k A π c , {\displaystyle {\text{St}}={\frac {kA}{\pi c}},} where k is the reduced frequency , and A is amplitude of the heaving oscillation.
This equation, stated by Euler in 1758, [3] is known as Euler's polyhedron formula. [4] It corresponds to the Euler characteristic of the sphere (i.e. = ), and applies identically to spherical polyhedra. An illustration of the formula on all Platonic polyhedra is given below.