Established science · Molecular motion
Viscosity
How hard the crowd resists flow
Viscosity is internal friction in a fluid. Water lets layers slide. Honey does not. The number is η (eta). Around room temperature, water is near 1 millipascal-second. Honey is thousands of times larger.
Stokes' law: a small sphere falling slowly reaches a terminal speed proportional to its size squared and to the density difference, and inversely proportional to η. Thicker liquid, slower fall. That is the same η that slows Brownian motion.
Vale's point: molecular motion and viscosity are one subject. Fast, loosely tied molecules flow. Tight, tangled ones resist. Neither fact renames an element.
Water
1× thicker
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