Fluidics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The branch of engineering that studies fluid motion in devices with no moving parts ; the use of such fluid-powered circuits to perform logic and control tasks
2. The science of how liquids and gases flow through devices that have no moving components ; the application of those flows to build control and sensing systems
3. Engineering concerned with channeling streams of fluid through components lacking mechanical parts ; the design of fluid-based circuits that carry out logic functions and monitoring

Etymology: Fluidics is a compound of "fluid" and "-ics," the suffix that names a field of study, as in "physics" or "electronics." The "-ic" in its middle is an adjective-forming ending, so "fluidic" first meant something like "relating to fluid," and "fluidics" then named the science built on that idea. The base goes back to Latin "fluere," "to flow," which also gave us "fluent" and "fluctuate," and the English "fluid" came into Middle English by way of Latin "fluidus." The word is a technical coinage from the twentieth century, built from familiar parts rather than inherited from antiquity. Its key idea is that a moving liquid or gas can do the work of a switch or sensor without any mechanical part, which is why the name sounds like electronics but describes plumbing-like principles.