Fluidics, Fluid Mechanics, and Instrumentation
Bernie Gollomp · 2004
mage transformation: giving wellestablished technologies new names with “ics” suffixes, as in electronics, was a mid-20th Century modernization ritual. Hydraulics, pneumatics, and fluid mechanics that encompass gas and liquid energy flow became part of the technology modernization trend. Fluidics, and later, fluid dynamics, became part of the technology lexicon. Fundamental laws and principles remained unchanged. Fluidics and other previously considered archaic technologies, such as photonics, emerged to become important electronic technology facilitators and beneficiaries. Hydraulics contributed to the establishment and growth of civilization before Archimedes time. The laws propounded by Pascal, Boyle, and Bernoulli added steadily to the science and practice of fluid mechanics. A comparative study of engineering handbooks reveals the overarching commonalities of fundamental principles and laws.