Real water escapes Navier-Stokes idealizations long before any singularity, says Strogatz
stevenstrogatz · x · 2026-09-09
Mathematician Steven Strogatz explains that the mathematics assumes water is a smooth, incompressible continuum with constant density and viscosity. Real water has many ways to escape these idealized Navier-Stokes assumptions: extreme flows can produce cavitation bubbles, compressibility, heating, phase changes, and eventually molecular-scale effects where the continuum picture itself breaks down — possibly long before any mathematical singularity is reached.
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