Undergrad Non-Newtonian fluids at the quantum level

[thebosonbreaker]

I am intrigued by the diversity of Non-Newtonian fluids and need to ask a question.

Can anyone provide me with a breakdown of what goes on at the quantum level as the Non-Newtonian fluid bounces up and down on top of the speaker in the video I have embedded.

What I would like to know is essentially what happens in terms of:

• Molecules and atoms
• Electrons orbiting the nuclei of the atoms
• Protons and neutrons in the nuclei of the atoms
• Quarks and other particles that make up the electrons
• Even further down the quantum level would be nice (if possible!)

Many thanks in advance.

 

[DrClaude]

The properties of a fluid are emergent properties. Anything more fundamental than molecule-molecule interactions will play no role in determining the Newtonian or non-Newtonian behavior of a fluid.

 

[A. Neumaier]

What I would like to know is essentially what happens in terms of:

• Molecules and atoms

A non-Newtonian fluid is composed of molecules whose shape seen from far away is significantly nonspherical. This causes the effective equations derived from a statistical mechanics treatment to be significantly different from the Navier-Stokes equations for Newtonian fluids. One needs additional degrees of freedom to model the deviation from sphericity. That's all.

Given the effective forces of the molecules, classical mechanics suffices to explain the deviations from Newtonian laws. Quantum mechanics, atoms and electrons are only relevant in as far as they determine the possible shapes of the molecules and the effective forces in reshaping them (i.e., their classical molecular force field). Stuff inside atoms works exactly the same as for all matter.