# How to explain the Venturi effect with Kinetic Theory?

From a macroscopic perspective a fluid flowing through a pipe gets accelerated when the pipe's cross section gets narrower. According to $F= ma$ a force must be present to do this. This force is usually said to be the pressure gradient force between the wider and narrower cross section: the fluid has a higher pressure behind than in front which results in a net force.

But there is a problem with this macroscopic explanation: There is no pressure difference before there is a velocity difference. You cannot explain how the first fluid particle got initially accelerated because there simply is no pressure difference before it got accelerated. Acceleration needs a foregoing pressure difference and the pressure difference needs a velocity difference.

So, there is no macroscopic explanation of the Venturi effect. On a microscopic level you see that fluid particles actually don't accelerate; it's just that their random movement gets directed and internal kinetic energy gets converted to external kinetic energy.

How do you explain the Venturi effect on a microscopic level with Kinetic Theory? How does it come about that the molecules' random movement gets directed and the molecules hit the walls of the pipe less strongly?

Even if you don't have a definitive answer, give me your best one. :-)

• You can get insight from here; check this.
– user36790
Jul 16 '15 at 14:20