In 1851, George Gabriel Stokes derived an expression for the frictional force exerted on spherical objects with very small Reynolds numbers (e.g., very small particles) in a viscous fluid by solving the generally unsolvable Navier-Stokes equations:
- F is the frictional force
- r is the particle radius
- η is the fluid viscosity, and
- v is the particles speed
- Vs is the particles settling velocity,
- g is the acceleration of gravity,
- ρp is the density of the particles, and
- ρf is the density of the fluid
See also: