Darwin drift

noun

The phenomenon by which a fluid parcel is permanently displaced after the passage of a body through a fluid – the fluid being at rest far away from the body.

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Meanings

nounDarwin drift (uncountable)
  1. uncountablefluid dynamicsThe phenomenon by which a fluid parcel is permanently displaced after the passage of a body through a fluid – the fluid being at rest far away from the body.

    z-component of any force on the surface of the swimmer and ρ the radial co- ordinate. v D is termed the Darwin drift: by comparison, for a colloid at zero Reynolds number this quantity is infinite. The magnitude of the Darwin drift is of the order.

    2016, C.N. Likos, F. Sciortino, E. Zaccarelli, Soft Matter Self-Assembly, →ISBN, page 392

Origin

Named after Sir Charles Galton Darwin, who proved a related theorem in 1953.

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Cite this entry
APA

Darwin drift. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Darwin%20drift

MLA

“Darwin drift.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Darwin%20drift. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Darwin drift,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Darwin%20drift.

Source: Darwin drift on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.