The surface forces due to pressure and stresses are, from the molecular point of view, the microscopic momentum fluxes across a surface. If these fluxes cannot be written in terms of the properties whose conservation the equations govern (density and velocity), the system of equations is not closed; that is there are fewer equations than dependent variables and solution is not possible. This possibility can be avoided by making certain assumptions. The simplest assumption is that the fluid is Newtonian; fortunately, the Newtonian model applies to many actual fluids.
For Newtonian fluids, the stress tensor T, which is the molecular rate of transport of momentum ,can be written2: