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Current (fluid)
 
 
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A current, in a river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
 or stream
Stream

A stream is a body of water less than 60 feet wide with a current , confined within a stream bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, Burn , creek, crick, kill, lick , rill, river syke, bayou, rivu...
, is the flow
Flow

Flow may refer to:In science and technology:*Dataflow, computing term related to the flow of messages between software components*Environmental flow, the amount of water necessary in a watercourse to maintain a healthy ecosystem...
 of water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
 influenced by gravity as the water moves downhill
Downhill

The downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....
 to reduce its potential energy
Potential energy

Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
. The current varies spatially as well as temporal
Temporal

Temporal can refer to:* of or relating to time** Temporality in philosophy** Temporal database, a database recording aspects of time varying values...
ly within the stream, dependent upon the flow volume
Volume

The volume of any solid, liquid, plasma, vacuum or theoretical object is how much three-dimensional space it occupies, often quantified numerically....
 of water, stream gradient
Stream gradient

Stream gradient is the ratio of drop in a stream per unit distance, usually expressed as Foot per mile or meters per kilometer. A high gradient indicates a steep slope and rapid volumetric flow rate of water ; whereas a low gradient indicates a more nearly level stream bed and sluggishly moving water, that may be able to carry only small amo...
, and channel
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
 geometrics. In tidal zones, the current in rivers and streams may reverse on the flood tide
Flood Tide

Flood Tide is an action-adventure novel by Clive Cussler. This is the 14th book featuring the author?s primary protagonist, Dirk Pitt. He must rescue illegal immigrants from a Chinese tycoon and locate the bones of the Peking Man, the famous lost example of Homo erectus....
 before resuming on the ebb tide
Ebb Tide

"Ebb Tide" is a popular music song, written in 1953 in music by lyrics Carl Sigman and composer Robert Maxwell .It has been recorded many times, the best-known versions include those by Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra , a successful vocal version in the same year by Vic Damone, Frank Sinatra , The Platters , Lenny Welch and the Righteou...
.

Air currents may be caused by differences in temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, pressure, or impurity
Impurity

Impurities are substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid, which differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound....
 concentration.






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A current, in a river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
 or stream
Stream

A stream is a body of water less than 60 feet wide with a current , confined within a stream bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, Burn , creek, crick, kill, lick , rill, river syke, bayou, rivu...
, is the flow
Flow

Flow may refer to:In science and technology:*Dataflow, computing term related to the flow of messages between software components*Environmental flow, the amount of water necessary in a watercourse to maintain a healthy ecosystem...
 of water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
 influenced by gravity as the water moves downhill
Downhill

The downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....
 to reduce its potential energy
Potential energy

Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
. The current varies spatially as well as temporal
Temporal

Temporal can refer to:* of or relating to time** Temporality in philosophy** Temporal database, a database recording aspects of time varying values...
ly within the stream, dependent upon the flow volume
Volume

The volume of any solid, liquid, plasma, vacuum or theoretical object is how much three-dimensional space it occupies, often quantified numerically....
 of water, stream gradient
Stream gradient

Stream gradient is the ratio of drop in a stream per unit distance, usually expressed as Foot per mile or meters per kilometer. A high gradient indicates a steep slope and rapid volumetric flow rate of water ; whereas a low gradient indicates a more nearly level stream bed and sluggishly moving water, that may be able to carry only small amo...
, and channel
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
 geometrics. In tidal zones, the current in rivers and streams may reverse on the flood tide
Flood Tide

Flood Tide is an action-adventure novel by Clive Cussler. This is the 14th book featuring the author?s primary protagonist, Dirk Pitt. He must rescue illegal immigrants from a Chinese tycoon and locate the bones of the Peking Man, the famous lost example of Homo erectus....
 before resuming on the ebb tide
Ebb Tide

"Ebb Tide" is a popular music song, written in 1953 in music by lyrics Carl Sigman and composer Robert Maxwell .It has been recorded many times, the best-known versions include those by Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra , a successful vocal version in the same year by Vic Damone, Frank Sinatra , The Platters , Lenny Welch and the Righteou...
.

Air currents may be caused by differences in temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, pressure, or impurity
Impurity

Impurities are substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid, which differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound....
 concentration. Temperature differences can cause air currents because warmer air is less dense
Density

The density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol of density is ....
 than cooler air, causing the warmer air to appear "lighter." Thus, if the warm air is under the cool air, air currents will form as they exchange places. Pressure differences also cause air currents as the air flows from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure.

See also

  • Ocean current
    Ocean current

    An ocean current is continuous, directed movement of ocean water. The currents are generated from the forces acting upon the water like the Earth's rotation, the wind, the temperature, salinity differences and the tide....
  • Rheotaxis
    Rheotaxis

    Rheotaxis is a form of taxis seen in many aquatic organisms, e.g., fish, whereby they will turn to face into an oncoming Current .In a flowing stream, this behavior leads them to hold position in a stream rather than being swept downstream by the current....
  • Volumetric flow rate
    Volumetric flow rate

    The volumetric flow rate in fluid dynamics and hydrometry, is the volume of fluid which passes through a given surface per unit time Volumetric flow rate should not be confused with volumetric flux, as defined by Darcy's law and represented by the symbol q, with units of m3/, that is, m s-1....
  • Electric current
    Electric current

    Electric current is the flow of electric charge. The electric charge may be either electrons or ions.The International System of Units unit of electric current intensity is the ampere....


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