ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Derivation of the Navier–Stokes equations

So imagine you're playing with your toys in a big bathtub full of water. When you wiggle your hand, you see that the water moves around it. This movement of water is called "flow."

The grown-ups who study how fluids flow (like water in a bathtub) are called "fluid dynamicists." They want to understand how water moves when different things happen, like when you wiggle your hand or turn on the faucet.

The Navier-Stokes equations are a big, fancy math equation that fluid dynamicists use to describe how water (or any other fluid) moves when different things happen to it. They use this equation to make predictions about how water will move in different situations.

The equation has different parts that help fluid dynamicists understand different things. For example, one part of the equation talks about "pressure," which means how much force the water is pushing with. Another part talks about "viscosity," which is how sticky the water is.

Overall, the Navier-Stokes equation helps fluid dynamicists understand how water moves and predict what will happen in different situations. It's like a big puzzle that they use to solve problems about how fluids behave.