Potential flow

Potential flow is kind of like a river flowing through a river bed. When water flows through a river bed, it can flow in different directions and over different types of surfaces. When it hits a rock or a bend in the river, the water will change directions or speed up. Potential flow is sort of like that, but instead of water, it's air. Imagine the air is like little balls, and those balls will move when they hit something. If a bunch of the little balls hit something like a bump in the air, they'll move around it and speed up. Potential flow describes how the air will move and how fast it will go when it encounters a change in the air.