Viscosity

measurement of a fluid’s resistance to flow. The common metric unit of absolute viscosity is the poise, which is defined as the force in dynes required to move a surface one square centimeter in area past a parallel surface at a speed of one centimeter per second, with the surfaces separated by a fluid film one centimeter thick. In addition to kinematic viscosity, there are other methods for determining viscosity, including Saybolt Universal Viscosity (SUV), Saybolt Furol viscosity, Engier viscosity, and Redwood viscosity. Since viscosity varies in inversely with temperature, its value is meaningless until the temperature at which it is determined is reported.

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