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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 .
Nondimensionalization is the partial or full removal of physical dimensions from an equation involving physical quantities by a suitable substitution of variables.This technique can simplify and parameterize problems where measured units are involved.
Although named for Edgar Buckingham, the π theorem was first proved by the French mathematician Joseph Bertrand in 1878. [1] Bertrand considered only special cases of problems from electrodynamics and heat conduction, but his article contains, in distinct terms, all the basic ideas of the modern proof of the theorem and clearly indicates the theorem's utility for modelling physical phenomena.
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.
The extra constant factor introduced in the denominator was introduced because, unlike the discrete form, the continuous form shown above is not dimensionless. As stated in the previous section, to make it into a dimensionless quantity, we must divide it by h 3N (where h is usually taken to be the Planck constant).
The Knudsen number is a dimensionless number defined as =, where = mean free path [L 1], = representative physical length scale [L 1].. The representative length scale considered, , may correspond to various physical traits of a system, but most commonly relates to a gap length over which thermal transport or mass transport occurs through a gas phase.
The dimension of a physical quantity is more fundamental than some scale or unit used to express the amount of that physical quantity. For example, mass is a dimension, while the kilogram is a particular reference quantity chosen to express a quantity of mass. The choice of unit is arbitrary, and its choice is often based on historical precedent.