44 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Is sand a liquid???
If I remember correctly from Engineering School the technical definition of a fluid vs solid is a solid will resist a shear force and a fluid will not, it will only resist the rate of shear which is also know as viscosity. Sand will resist a shear force (not as well as other materials) so there for it would meet that definition of a solid.
Comment by Mockingjay40 at 18/01/2024 at 22:19 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Not entirely true, yield stress fluid, such as poloxamer gels or stationary blood, can and do resist shear. However, these materials are still fluids from a particle physics perspective.