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    Of (I.e., Diverging From) A Given Point. If Fluid Is Instead

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    Suresh Vishnoi
    Divergence measures the net flow of fluid out of or into a given point, with positive divergence indicating flow out of a point (a source) and negative divergence indicating flow into a point (a sink). Curl measures the degree of rotation of a fluid around a given point, such as in a whirlpool or tornado. The sign of the curl determines whether swimming around a small chunk of fluid would be easier going with or against the current. The gradient of a scalar field, such as elevation, points in the direction of steepest increase and its magnitude indicates the rate of increase in that direction. For example, a gradient of 0.2 northeast means elevation increases by 0.2 meters for

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    Of (I.e., Diverging From) A Given Point. If Fluid Is Instead

    Uploaded by

    Suresh Vishnoi
    38 views1 page
    Divergence measures the net flow of fluid out of or into a given point, with positive divergence indicating flow out of a point (a source) and negative divergence indicating flow into a point (a sink). Curl measures the degree of rotation of a fluid around a given point, such as in a whirlpool or tornado. The sign of the curl determines whether swimming around a small chunk of fluid would be easier going with or against the current. The gradient of a scalar field, such as elevation, points in the direction of steepest increase and its magnitude indicates the rate of increase in that direction. For example, a gradient of 0.2 northeast means elevation increases by 0.2 meters for

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    Divergence notes

    Original Title

    Divergence 1

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    Divergence measures the net flow of fluid out of or into a given point, with positive divergence indicating flow out of a point (a source) and negative divergence indicating flow into a point (a sink). Curl measures the degree of rotation of a fluid around a given point, such as in a whirlpool or tornado. The sign of the curl determines whether swimming around a small chunk of fluid would be easier going with or against the current. The gradient of a scalar field, such as elevation, points in the direction of steepest increase and its magnitude indicates the rate of increase in that direction. For example, a gradient of 0.2 northeast means elevation increases by 0.2 meters for

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    38 views1 page

    Of (I.e., Diverging From) A Given Point. If Fluid Is Instead

    Uploaded by

    Suresh Vishnoi
    Divergence measures the net flow of fluid out of or into a given point, with positive divergence indicating flow out of a point (a source) and negative divergence indicating flow into a point (a sink). Curl measures the degree of rotation of a fluid around a given point, such as in a whirlpool or tornado. The sign of the curl determines whether swimming around a small chunk of fluid would be easier going with or against the current. The gradient of a scalar field, such as elevation, points in the direction of steepest increase and its magnitude indicates the rate of increase in that direction. For example, a gradient of 0.2 northeast means elevation increases by 0.2 meters for

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Divergence:

    Imagine a fluid, with the vector field representing the


    velocity of the fluid at each point in space. Divergence
    measures the net flow of fluid out
    of (i.e., diverging from) a given point. If fluid is instead
    flowing into that point, the divergence will be negative.
    A point or region with positive divergence is often
    referred to as a "source" (of fluid, or whatever the field is
    describing), while a point or region with negative
    divergence is a "sink".
    Curl:
    Let's go back to our fluid, with the vector field
    representing fluid velocity. The curl measures the
    degree to which the fluid is rotating about a given point,
    with whirlpools and tornadoes being extreme examples.
    Imagine a small chunk of fluid, small enough that the
    curl is more or less constant within it. You are also
    shrunk down very small, and are told that you need to
    swim a lap around the perimeter of that chunk of fluid.
    Do you choose to swim around clockwise, or
    counterclockwise? If the curl of the velocity is zero, then
    it doesn't matter. But, if it's nonzero, then in one
    direction you'd be going mostly with the current, and in

    the other direction you'd be going mostly against the


    current, and so your choice of direction wouldmatter.
    The sign of the curl will tell you which is the right
    choice.
    Gradient:
    While it's perfectly valid to take the gradient of a vector
    field, the result is a rank 2 tensor (like a matrix), and so
    it's harder to explain in intuitive terms (although
    perhaps someone else will manage it). So, instead, I'll
    talk about the gradient of a scalar field: specifically, the
    field that gives the elevation of the ground above sea
    level at a given point on the Earth (specified, say, in
    terms of latitude and longitude).
    In that situation, the gradient is actually fairly simple: it
    points "uphill" (in the steepest direction), and the
    magnitude tells you how steep that is. For example, if
    the gradient points northeast with a magnitude of 0.2,
    then the direction of steepest climb is northeast, and
    every meter you travel northeast will result in 0.2
    meters of elevation gain.
    For the gradient of a vector field, you can think of it as
    the gradient of each component of that vector field
    individually, each of which is a scalar.

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