Scope note

Text

This class comprises a mass of matter in fluid form environmentally constraint in some persistent form allowing for identifying it for the management or research of material phenomena, such as a part of the sea, a river, the atmosphere or the milk in a bottle. Fluids are generally defined by the continuity criterion which is characteristic of their substance: their amorphous matter is continuous and tends to flow. Therefore, contiguous amounts of matter within a fluid body may stay contiguous or at least be locally spatially confined for a sufficiently long time in order to be temporarily identified and traced. This is a much weaker concept of stability of form than the one we would apply to what one would call a physical object. In general, an instance of Fluid Body may gain or lose matter over time through so-called sources or sinks in its surface, in contrast to physical things, which may lose or gain matter by exchange of pieces such as spare parts or corrosion.

Language

en