Storage and Flow of Fluids and Electricity

Abstract

In this chapter, hydraulic and electric phenomena will be introduced and described with concepts known from the physics of dynamical systems and processes. We start with fluids in systems of tanks, pipes and pumps, and extend the description to electrical processes by making use of analogical reasoning. Dynamical models will be constructed that share the same underlying structure even though the phenomena are not at all alike–at least not superficially. The form of the conceptualization, and the tools used to express it, are the same as those used to create models of mechanical systems (Chapter 3). They will be used to build a theory of the dynamics of heat in Part II.