Fluid instabilities occur in liquids, gases and plasmas, and are often characterized by the shape that form ; they are studied in fluid dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics.

Examples include the National Center for Atmospheric Research ( NCAR, in Boulder, Colorado, USA ), the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory ( GFDL, in Princeton, New Jersey, USA ), the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research ( in Exeter, UK ), the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, or the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l ' Environnement ( LSCE ), France, to name but a few.

Also part of PSEB is the Autodesk Consumer Product Group, which was created in November 2010 to generate interest in 3-D design and “ foster a new wave of designers who hunger for sophisticated software .” The products from the group include 123D, Fluid FX, Homestyler, Pixlr, and SketchBook.

Fluid catalytic cracking is a commonly used process, and a modern oil refinery will typically include a cat cracker, particularly at refineries in the US, due to the high demand for gasoline.

Further examples of this form of music game include Fluid, Electroplankton, Wii Music, Traxxpad, myRMX, and MTV Drumscape.

Fluid systems for carrying liquids and gases include piping and tubing of various diameter sizes, various types of valves for controlling or stopping flow, pumps for moving or pressurizing liquid, and compressors for pressurizing or moving gases.

The theory of dissipative structures of Prigogine and Hermann Haken's Synergetics were developed to unify the understanding of these phenomena, which include lasers, turbulence and convective instabilities ( e. g., Bénard cells ) in fluid dynamics,