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Thursday, February 20, 2020

Divergence and curl of the vector field

F=iFixi
It is so called divergence, because it measures the tendency of a vector field to diverge (positive divergence) or converge (negative divergence). In particular, a vector field is said to be incompressible (or solenoidal) if its divergence is zero.

Examples:
F=(x,y,0), G=(x,y,0) and H=(x,y,0), we have
G=11=0
F=2
G=2
The arrows on the plot of F diverge and on the plot of H converge.

×F=(F3yF2z)i+(F1zF3x)j+(F2xF1y)k
The curl of a vector measures its tendency to rotate. A vector field is said to be irrotational if its curl is the zero vector.



Examples:
F=(y,x,0), G=(y,x,0) and H=(y,x,0), we have
×F=2k
×G=0
×H=2k
The coefficient of k in curl F being positive indicates anticlockwise rotation.





Reference:
http://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~cc/2A/2A_notes/2A_chap4.pdf

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