Why is fluid dynamics critical to COVID-19 research?

July 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The impact of respiratory infections on humans has become the focus of attentionit also shows that the biggest defense against health crises is government policy, which is firmly rooted in sciencein an effort to curb the spread of the disease, many governments have implemented policies to prevent physical contactthis has a direct impact on our daily lives: the way people move, where they work, and how they interact with each other has changedthese policies are good first steps, but they are limited because they do not fully explain how viruses are physically transmitted from person to personsome of themay be found in a field of research called fluid mechanics -- understanding how fluids moveunderstanding how liquids flow helps us understand how viruses like COVID-19 spread between infected peoplethis is because when we cough or sneeze, the movement of the droplets we emit is controlled by the mechanics of fluidsunderstanding how the virus is transmitted can inform public health interventions to minimize riskphoto source: Recent understanding of the interactions between fluid mechanics and epidemiology has begun to provide at least some insight into the physical transmission pathways of COVID-19for example, recent studies have shown that coughing or sneezing is made up of multi-phase chaos gas cloudsthis gas cloud sends viral pathogens farther than expectedgrowing evidence has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to admit that coronaviruses can be transmitted through tiny particles suspended in the airThe study of fluid mechanics inis a discipline of how fluids moveit sounds simple, but it's actually very complicated first of all, it's important to understand what moving means physicist Sir Isaac Newton has proved that something called force is necessary to change the way an object moves the force must act on the object, the size and direction of the force is the product of the mass and acceleration of the object acceleration is the change in the speed of an object over time (the rate of change in velocity) , the speed of an object is the distance it takes over a certain period of time so Newton's laws of motion can help us predict how objects travel through space-time this helps us calculate the position of an object at any given time we can apply Newton's laws of motion to fluids in an attempt to explain how fluids move fluid is a substance whose particles move a lot relative to it when a force acts on it in other words, the defining characteristic of a fluid is that the fluid is easy to deform fluid has no fixed shape any liquid, such as water, is a good example, but the air around us can also be considered fluid the boundaries between liquids and solids are not clear, and in some cases solids can behave like liquids if frozen, dried paint and asphalt, and vice versa An important feature of fluids is that they transport "substances"; therefore, the study of fluid mechanics is the basis for understanding the world we live in , for example, fluid mechanics can help us simulate and predict how the sun's heat travels around the world (think climate change) another example of is the use of fluid mechanics in the spread of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 recent studies in the application of fluid mechanics to COVID-19 show that our current understanding of the routes of transmission of respiratory diseases is limited and is based on an oversimplified model recent developments in fluid mechanics and epidemiology suggest that turbulent air currents from sneezing or coughing transport pathogens farther than expected When we breathe, cough, or sneeze, the characteristics of "smoke bubbles" or "smoke plumes" are important for understanding how droplets are transported picture source: "The droplets inside the jet are distorted by complex airflow patterns associated with the jet or plume and their interaction with the surrounding air." this process can break down droplets into pieces and then drop them out of the suspension, contaminating many surfaces of course, the crushing process also produces smaller particles that move farther than large particles flow field, temperature, and humidity also affect the distance of motion of the water droplets this has an impact on the World Health Organization's 1-2-meter (3-6-foot) body distance guidelines studies have shown that these droplets can fly up to 7 meters (20 feet) this has not been taken into account that tiny droplets can be transported further afield due to the presence of a building ventilation system in a recent open letter to WHO, more than 200 scientists accused WHO of underestimating the possibility of AIRBORNE COVID-19 transmission in light of recent statements by the World Health Organization, these guidelines may be revised the principles of fluid mechanics have been used in ventilation design and occupational health; what we know may also inform government policy to reduce the spread of future pandemics such as COVID-19 () Source: Why it's Important to Know How flow s move the flow physics of COVID-19 Violent-19 V V DROPLETS AND DROPLET NUCLEI.