Viscosity depends strongly on temperature. In liquids it usually decreases with increasing temperature, whereas, in most gases, viscosity increases with increasing temperature. This article discusses several models of this dependence, ranging from rigorous first-principles calculations for monatomic gases, to empirical correlations for liquids.
Understanding the temperature dependence of viscosity is important in many applications, for instance engineering lubricants that perform well under varying temperature conditions (such as in a car engine), since the performance of a lubricant depends in part on its viscosity. Engineering problems of this type fall under the purview of tribology.
Here dynamic viscosity is denoted by
μ
{\displaystyle \mu }
and kinematic viscosity by
ν
{\displaystyle \nu }
. The formulas given are valid only for an absolute temperature scale; therefore, unless stated otherwise temperatures are in kelvins.