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How To Best Explain Divergence and Curl - Quora

The document explains divergence and curl using the analogy of floating down a river on inner tubes with friends. Divergence describes how the area of the square formed by the friends' positions changes - positive divergence means the area is increasing as some friends pull ahead of others, while negative divergence means the area is decreasing. Curl describes how the square rotates as it moves - positive curl is counterclockwise rotation, negative is clockwise. Real-world examples of divergence and curl include how water flows in rivers and fluid dynamics.
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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
401 views12 pages

How To Best Explain Divergence and Curl - Quora

The document explains divergence and curl using the analogy of floating down a river on inner tubes with friends. Divergence describes how the area of the square formed by the friends' positions changes - positive divergence means the area is increasing as some friends pull ahead of others, while negative divergence means the area is decreasing. Curl describes how the square rotates as it moves - positive curl is counterclockwise rotation, negative is clockwise. Real-world examples of divergence and curl include how water flows in rivers and fluid dynamics.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 12

11/26/2016

HowtobestexplaindivergenceandcurlQuora

Maxwell'sEquations

MathematicalPhysics

MathematicsandPhysics

Calculus

FluidDynamics

Physics

Electromagnetism

SurveyQuestion

Howcanyoubestexplaindivergenceandcurl?
Howcanyoubestexplainthedivergenceandcurl?Whatistheirsignificance?Whataretheir
realworldapplicationsandexamples?

10Answers
MarkEichenlaub,PhDstudentinPhysics
UpdatedApr24,2014UpvotedbyBarakShoshany,GraduateStudentatPerimeter
InstituteforTheoreticalPhysicsandKaushikSBalasubramanian,PhysicsPhDstudentat
BrandeisUniversity

RelatedQuestions
Doconceptsinvolvingrateofchangelikederivatives,
integrals,divergence,curls,Stoke'stheorem,etc.
haveanytheoreticalmeaningand/or...
Whatisthephysicalmeaningofdivergence,curland
gradientofavectorfield?
Whatisthedifferencebetweenacurl,divergenceand
agradientofafunction?Alongwiththeirphysical
significance.
Whatistheactualmeaningofdivergenceandcurlin
Maxwell'sequations?

tldr

Whocanexplainhowthedivergenceofthecurlis
zero?

Youandthreefriendsfloatdownariver,eachmarkingacornerofasquare.Ifyoursquare
isgettingbigger,theriverhaspositivedivergence.Ifit'sshrinking,negativedivergence.

Whatistheeasiestwaytoexplaintheconceptof
gradient,divergenceandcurl?

Next,youandyourfriendsarerigidlyconnectedsoyoursquarecan'tchangeshape.Ifthe
squarestartsrotatinglikeafrisbeeasitgoesalong,theriverhascurl.Positivecurlis
counterclockwiserotation.Negativecurlisclockwise.

Weknowthedivergenceofacurliszerobuthowwill
thisbetrueifavectorwhosecurlisdefined,also
expandsandshrinks?
Howcanwedefinegradientdivergenceandcurl.?

Thisanswerassumesagoodknowledgeofcalculus,includingpartialderivatives,vectors,
andthewaywetalkaboutthesethingsinanintroductorycalculusbasedphysicscourse.
I'llalsoassumeyouknowthekinematicsofrotationsandhowtoapproximatemulti
variablefunctionsaboutanarbitrarypointwiththefirstordertermsofitsTaylorseries.

WhatkindoflogicisusedinGreen's,Stokesand
Divergencetheorems?Cansomeoneprovidethe
bestanalogytounderstandthelogic?

TubingDownaRiver

Whatisanintuitive,notheavilytechnicalway,to
explainthemeaningofdivergence,curls,Green's
theorem,Stoke'stheorem,andMaxwell's...

Moststudentslearnthedivergenceandcurlbecausethey'reimportantinMaxwell's
equationsofelectrodynamics.Theseconceptsapplytoanyvectorfield,though.Here,let's
justvisualizeyouandsomefriendsfloatingdownariveroninnertubes.Thevectorfieldis
thefieldgivingthevelocityoftheriver'sflow.Thedivergenceandcurldescribewhat
happenstoyouandyourfriendsasyoufloatdowntherivertogether.
Supposeyouaretubingdownariverwiththreefriends.Youpositionyourselvesintoa
squareformation.Assumingtheriverflowsperfectlyevenly,you'llallfloatalongtogether
andstayinthatperfectsquare.

However,iftherivermovesfasterinsomeplacesthanothers,someofyoumightgetahead
orfallbehind.Maybetheflowpicksupsidewayscomponentsandyoudriftapart.Your
squaregetsmessedup.

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Theblackarrowsshowsomesortofmessy,complicatedflow.Theredsquarethatisyour
initialpositionsdistortsintothepointedshape.
Mathematically,wewilltreatapersoninaninnertubeasapointmovingintwo
dimensions.Theflowoftheriverisavectorfieldavectorforthevelocityoftheflowat
eachpoint.Weimaginethatpeopleflowperfectlydowntherivertheirvelocityalways
matchesthevectorfieldexactly.(Inreallife,thisisnotexactlyhowithappensthewater
canmoveunderneathyou.)Also,thepeoplethemselvesarejusttestparticlesbitsofdust
floatingonthesurfacethatdon'taffecttheriver'sflowinanyway.Becausewealways
knowtheirvelocity,wecanintegratetheirmotionforwardandfindtheirtrajectories.
Finally,toavoidcomplications,imaginethatthevectorfielddescribingtheriver'sflowis
constantintime.Differentpartscanflowatdifferentspeeds(soyoucouldspeedupor
slowdownasyoutubealong),butthewaterpassingbysomeparticularfixedpointalways
hasthesamespeedanddirection.
We'lldenotetheflow'svelocityvectorasafunctionofpositionas
^ + V y (x, y)y
^
V(x, y) = V x (x, y)x

^ and y
^ areunitvectorsinthexand
V and V arerealvaluedfunctionsoftwovariables. x
ydirections.Tosavespace,I'llsometimesjustwriteVinsteadofV(x, y),sojustkeepin
mindthatit'safunctionofposition.
x

AreaandDivergence
Let'staketheshapemadebyyouandyourthreefriendsandcallthatyourspan.
Originally,yourspanisasquare,butasyougoalongitmaydistort.Divergencedescribes
howfasttheareaofyourspanischanging.
Forexample,imaginethattherivergetsfasterandfasterthefurtheryougodownstream.
Thenyourfriendsinfrontofyouwillkeepgettingfurtherandfurtherahead,andyour
spanstretchesout.Thisisanexampleofapositivedivergence.Thisisillustratedbelow.
Theshapeofthespanisaccuratelycalculatedforthisparticularvectorfield.

Ontheotherhand,ifplacesfurtherupmovemoreslowlysoyouscrunchinclosertoyour
friends,that'snegativedivergencetheareaofyourspangoesdown.

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Ifyouareallfloatingapartfromeachother,that'spositivedivergence.

source:Theideaofthedivergenceofavectorfield
Inthisvectorfield,yoursquarewouldgetbiggerinalldirectionsatonce.
Theopposite,whereallthearrowscomepointingin,wouldbenegativedivergence.
Iftheriverissimultaneouslygettingfasterandnarrower,yoursquaregetslongerand
skinnier.Ifitdoesitjustright,the"gettinglonger"partcouldcancelthe"gettingskinnier"
partsothattheareastaysthesame.Thiswouldbezerodivergence.Here'sanexampleI
constructed:

PreliminaryDefinitionofDivergence
Wewouldliketostartcalculatingthedivergence.Itseemslikeweshouldgetsomething
like"suchandsuchmanysquaremeterspersecond"forouranswer,becausethe
divergencehastodowiththeratethatanareaischanging.
Thishasaproblem,though,becausethenumberwillbedifferentifwestartwithatiny
spanthanifwestartwithalargespan.Wewantthedivergencetorefertoapropertyof
themathematicalvectorfield.Itcapturesthe"spreadingapart"natureofthevectors
themselves.Itsvalueshouldn'tdependonsomeparticularspansizewechoose.
Thesolutionistousethepercentageareagainedpersecond,whichisthesameforlarge
andsmallspans.Thiscouldalsobecalledthefractionalrateofchange.Thefractionalrate

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ofchangeoftheareaistherateofchangeoftheareainabsolutetermsdividedbythearea
itself.Thisourdefinitionofthedivergence,whichwewilldenotebyDiv
rate of change of area of span

Div(V(x, y)) =

area of span

Theunitsoftheareacancelout,andwe'releftwithunitsofinverseseconds,asisnormal
forrates.
Ifthedivergenceis2s ,thenthespanisaddingareaatarateoftwotimesitsownarea
oncepersecond.Soitwouldtakeabout0.005secondstoincreaseitsareaby1%.
1

(Sidenote:ifyouunderstandcalculuswell,youcanseethatthismeansthatafterone
second,thespanwouldbe e timesaslargeasitoriginallywas.)
2

Wecannowcalculateadivergence.Let'simaginetheriver'sflowisdescribedby
V (x, y) = 0.04x s

^
x

Thisissayingthattheflowisallinthexdirectionandthatitgetsfasterandfasterasyou
gofurtheralonginthatdirection.Ifyouwentout100meters,theflowratewouldbe
0.04 100m s
= 4m/s .
1

You're100m out,going4m/s.Let'ssayyouhaveaspanthat'sasquare1monaside.Your
twofriendsinfrontofyouare1mahead,sothey'regoing4.04m/s.Thatmeansthey're
pullingawayfromyouat0.04m/s.Thatmeansthesquareisgrowingatarateof0.04m /s
.
2

Ifyoudidn'tfollowwhereallthenumberscamefrominthepreviousparagraph,you
shouldgobackandworkthemout.Puttingittogether,thedivergenceis
2

0.04m /s

Div(V) =

1m

= 0.04s

Youcanrepeatthiscalculationputtingyourselfatanypositionandusinganysizespan
(androtatingitifyouwant).You'llgetthesameanswer.
Ifyouwanttotestyourself,supposetheflowisgivenby
^ + (cx + dy + f )y
^
V (x, y) = (ax + by + e)x

Giveyourselfastartingspansomewherewithacertainsize.Figureouttheratethatits
areaischanging,andfindthedivergence.Youshouldfindthatthedivergenceis
Div(V) = a + d

Thisresultactuallymakesintuitivesense.eandf areconstantsaddedtothevelocity.They
justmovetheentiresquarealongwithoutchangingitsshape,sotheydon'tcauseany
divergence.We'reonlyconcernedwiththerelativemotionbetweenthecorners.Therefore,
wecansimplytakethebottomleftcornerandconsiderittobefixed.
arepresentshowfasttherighthandsideoftheboxismovingout.Thisaddstothebox's
area,andsoispartofthedivergence.

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representshowfastthetoppartmovestotheright.

Thiscausesyoursquaretoshear,turningitintoaparallelogram,likethis:

source:Shearstress
Itstillhasthesamebaseandheight,sotheareadoesn'tchange.That'swhybdoesn'tcome
intotheformula.
Thesamereasoningappliestoc(therighthandsideslidingupanddown,moreshear)
andd(movingthetopupward,addingtothearea,andaffectingthedivergence).
Calculus
ForthesimpleexampleIgave,thedivergenceisthesamenomatterwhereyouputyour
span.However,inacomplicatedflow,theflowwillbedoingdifferentthingsatdifferent
places.Itmaybecomingtogether(negativedivergence)insomeplacesandmovingapart
(positivedivergence)inothers.Evidently,thedivergenceneedstobeafunctionofxandy.
Thispresentsaproblem,becausenowthesizeofthespanisgoingtomakeadifference.If
thedivergenceisdifferentfromspottospot,thenit'sdifferentatdifferentspotsinsideyour
span,butwe'rejusttryingtogetasinglecorrectanswer.

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Thisisverysimilartotheproblemoffindingtheslopeofalineincalculus.Theslopeofthe
linechangesfrompointtopoint,soifyoucalculate
betweentwopoints,youkeep
rise
run

gettingdifferentanswersdependingonhowfarapartthepointsare.Slopeshouldn't
dependonhowfarapartthepointsyouchooseare,anddivergenceshouldn'tdependon
howlargeanoriginalspanyouchoose.
Thesolutiontobothproblemsisthesamewetakealimit.Incalculus,youtakethelimit
asthedistancebetweenyourtwopointsonthefunctiongoestozero.Invectorcalculus,we
takethelimitasthesizeofourstartingspangoestozero.
Insinglevariablecalculusyou'llgettherightanswerfortheslopeusingafinitesize
intervalaslongasyou'remeasuringtheslopeofastraightline.That'sessentiallywhythe
examplesIgaveintheprevioussectionworkthevectorfieldIgaveistheequivalentofa
straightline.
ExpressionfortheDivergence
Whenyouzoominclosetoafunction,itlookslocallylikeastraightline.Likewise,when
youzoominclosetoavectorfield,itlookslocallylikeourequivalenttoastraightline,for
whichwealreadycalculatedthedivergence.
Tobespecific,afunctionofonevariablelookslocallylike
f (x) f (x 0 ) +

df
dx

(x x 0 )

x0

rememberthatourvectorfieldis
^ + V y (x, y)y
^
V(x, y) = V x (x, y)x

Wecanexpandthefunctions V and V thesamewayweexpandsinglevariable


functions,solongasweusetwopartialderivatives.
x

V x V x (x 0 , y0 ) +

Vx
x

(x x 0 ) +

x 0 ,y

Vx
y

(y y0 )

x 0 ,y

andlikewisefor V .Pluggingthesezoomedinfunctionsfor V and V intoVgives


y

V(x, y) = V(x 0 , y0 )+

Vx
x

Vy

(x x 0 ) +
x 0 ,y

x 0 ,y

(x x 0 ) +

Vx
y

Vy

^+
(y y0 )) x
x 0 ,y

^
(y y0 )) y

x 0 ,y

Thisisthesameasourearliervectorfield,withpartialderivativesstandinginfora, b, c, d,
andtheinitialvalueV(x , y )standinginforeandf ,sobyanalogywecansaythatthe
divergenceis
0

Div(V ) =

Vx
x

Vy
y

Thisisthedivergenceintwodimensions.Rememberthatit'safunctionofxandy.
Agoodtestofwhetheryouunderstandthedivergenceistofinditsformulainpolar
coordinateswhenthevectorfieldis
^
^ + V (r, )
V(r, ) = V r (r, )r

Youcandothisinexactlythesamewaydrawaspan,findhowfastitsareachanges,and
dividebythearea.Thesquareisalittleawkwardhereuseaspanthatlookslikethis:

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source:Math251diary,fall2010

Theansweris
Div(V) =

Vr
r

Vr
r

ContinuityEquation
Supposethattheflowofwaterintheriveristwodimensional,meaningnowatermoves
upwardsordownwards.Iftherewerepositivedivergence,thatwouldmeanthewaterwas
takingupmoreandmorespace.Butthatinturnmeansthatitwouldbethinningout,
gettinglessdense.Inturn,ifthewerenegativedivergence,itwouldmeanallthewaterin
someareawasgettingsmashedtogethertobecomemoredense.
Forwater,thisisessentiallyimpossible.Thepressureittakestocompresswater
appreciablyistoohightoreachinariver.Yousimilarlycan'tthinitoutthewaterwould
justcollapse.Thismeansthatforflowingwaterthedivergenceiszero!
Moregenerally,ifthewaterisdivergingat1%persecond,thatmeansthesamemassis
gettingspreadover1%morevolume,sothedensityisgoingdownby1%persecond.This
relationshipbetweenthedivergenceanddensityiscalledthecontinuityequation.Ifthe
densityis,then
d
dt

= Div(V)

Thisequationworksbecausemassisconserved.You'llseeasimilarequationforany
conservationlaw.Forexample,startingfromMaxwell'sequations,youcanderivea
continuityequationlikethisforelectricchargetoshowthatchargeisconserved.Starting
fromSchrodinger'sequationinquantummechanicsyoucanderiveacontinuityequation
toshowthatprobabilityisconservedthetotalprobabilitytofindaparticleanywhere
alwaysaddsupto100%.
ThreeDimensions
Inthreedimensions,everythingworksthesameway.Youcanthinkofeightdustparticles
formingacubethatdriftsthroughtheairinyourroom.Thefractionalrateofchangeof
thevolumeofthecubeisthedivergenceinthreedimensions.Itis
Div(V) =

Vx
x

Vy
y

Vz
z

EulerianvsLagrangianPictures
WhatI'vedescribedabovemightbecalledthe"Lagrangianpicture"ofthedivergence.We
imaginefollowingalongasyoufloatdowntheriverandtalkaboutwhathappenstoyou.
Foronereasonoranother,itismorepopulartodescribethedivergenceinthe"Eulerian
picture",inwhichweimaginestayingfixedinonespotandlookingatpropertiesofthe
flowrightthere.Ultimately,thereisnodifferencebetweenthetwo,butyoumighthear

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peopledescribethedivergenceinawaythatsoundssuperficiallydifferent.It'sactuallythe
same.Youcanlearnthatpictureifyouwant,orstickwiththisone.
Curl
Wenowimagineadevicemadeofrodsandfloaterslikethisonefloatingdowntheriver:

Itisbasicallythesamethingasbefore,exceptrigid.Youandyourthreefriendshavebeen
replacedbyfloatersattheendoftherods,andthere'sacentralhub.
Ifthedevicespins,theflowhascurl.Forexample,inthisflow,thetoppartofthedeviceis
infasterwaterandsogetsahead.Thebottompartlagsbehind,andalltogetherthiscauses
spin.

Iftheflowisperfectlyuniform,thedevicewon'tspinandthere'snocurl.
Indetail,thewayweimaginethisdeviceworkingisthatforthetop/bottomfloaters,what
mattersisthehorizontalcomponentoftheflowvelocity.Theverticalcomponentofflow
velocitycanonlypushorpullagainsttheverticalrods,andsohasnoeffect.Forthe
left/rightfloaters,whatmattersistheverticalcomponentsoftheflowrate(zerointhe
abovepicture).

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Let'ssaytherodshavelengthl.Thepoint(x
velocityinthexdirectionatthetopfloateris

0,

V x V x (x 0 , y0 ) +

Vx

l
x 0 ,y

y0 )

isatthecenterofthedevice.The

Ontheotherhand,ifthedeviceismovingalongasawholeatV(x , y )and
simultaneouslyrotatingatangularrate,thevelocityofthetoppointwouldbe
0

V x V x (x 0 , y0 ) + l

Soitlookslikethethingwantstorotateatarate
=

Vx
y

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Searchforquestions,people,andtopics

Wegetthesameanswerifwelookatthebottomfloater.
Ifwelookatthefloaterontherightanddothesameanalysis,itwantsthedevicetorotate
at
=

Vy
x

(Youshoulddrawthisouttopictureit.)
Thedevicecanonlyhaveonerotationspeed,whichwewillsayistheaverageofthespeed
thetop/bottomfloaterswanttogoandspeedtheleft/rightfloaterswanttogo.Thecurlis
thendefinedtobe
Curl(V) =

Vx
y

Vy
x

It'stwicetherotationrate.There'snospecialreasontomakeittwiceasfast.Itjustworks
outbetterthatwaywhenyouthinkofsomeotherpossiblewaystodefinethecurl.Those
otherwaysareequivalentyoucanreadaboutthemanywhere.ThisisjustthepictureI
have.
ThreeDimensions
Whatwefoundaboveisthezcomponentofthecurl.That'sbecausethethingisspinning
aroundthezaxis.(Thezaxiscomesupoutofyourmonitor.)
Imagineputtingatoyjackshapeddevicewithsixrodsandfloatersinthewater,onein
eachdirectionin3D.Itwouldspinjustthesame,butthetwoextrafloaterswould
contributesomeextratorque.Thedevicepicksupsomespinaroundthexaxisandyaxis
inadditiontothefamiliarzaxisspin.
Addingupthespinsaroundeachaxis(whichyoucandobecauseangularvelocitiesare
vectors)youfindthattheentirejackisspinningaroundsomeparticularaxisin3D.This
axisisthedirectionofthecurlinthreedimensions.Sothedirectionofthecurlisjustthe
directionoftheaxisaroundwhichthedevicespins.Themagnitudeofthecurlisstillhow
fastitspins.
FurtherReading
Div,Grad,Curl,andAllThat,Schey(AnInformalTextonVectorCalculus(Fourth
Edition):H.M.Schey:9780393925166:Amazon.com:Books )
Ifyouhavesometimetoanswerafewquestionsabouttheeffectivenessofthisanswer,
pleasecheckoutDanandIDivergebyMarkEichenlaubonPaintingtheCathedral
29kViewsViewUpvotes

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Doconceptsinvolvingrateofchangelikederivatives,integrals,divergence,curls,Stoke's
theorem,etc.haveanytheoreticalmeaningand/or...

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Howcanoneapplytheconceptofdivergenceofacurltoarotatingfan?
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Whatisthedifferencebetweenacurl,divergenceandagradientofafunction?Alongwith
theirphysicalsignificance.
WhatistheactualmeaningofdivergenceandcurlinMaxwell'sequations?

DanielMcLaury,"I'mnotThomasDolbysciencedoesn'tblindme."
WrittenMay19,2013UpvotedbyLucasTambasco,B.S.inPhysics,MIT'13

Ispentafewyearstryingandfailingtounderstandtheconceptsofdivergenceandcurl.
Afterfailingmyphysicscoursesafewtimes,Ieventuallygaveup.LaterIwentontostudy
differentialgeometry,differentialforms,anddeRhamcohomology,atwhichpointI
Searchforquestions,people,andtopics
understooddivergenceandcurlnotonlyinsomeformalsense,butintheintuitivesense
thatpeoplehadbeentryingtoexplaininformallyallalong.

SignIn

I'vetalkedtoatleastadozenpeoplewhohadexactlythesameexperience.[1]I'msolidly
convincedthat,atleastformyselfandmanyothers,itliterallywouldhavebeenimpossible
toarriveatthisintuitiveunderstandingwithoutpassingthroughtheformalitiesfirst.
SomepeoplecanjustreadsomethinglikeNicholasMa'sanswerandhaveitmakesenseto
themthefirsttime,anditlooksperfectlytransparenttomenow,butIremembertrying
andfailingtounderstandthatkindofexplanationtoomanytimestobelievethatifyou
justslightlyaltereditsomehowitwouldworkforeveryone.
So,Iwouldexplaindivergenceandcurltosomeonebyfirstteachingthispersontopology,
linearandmultilinearalgebra,anddifferentialgeometry(probablyincludingarehashof
calculussincepeopleusuallydon'tlearnittherightway).Iestimatethiswouldprobably
takemeabouttwoyearstodo.
Probablynottheansweryouwanted,butit'stheonlyanswerIcanhonestlygive.
BONUS:CommentsonMyInvestigationofDivergenceandCurl ,anicearticleby
mathematicianLeeLadyonhisattemptstoexplaindivergenceandcurltohissatisfaction
[1]SeealsoJesseFarmer'sanswertoShouldyoustudyadvancedcalculusbeforereal
analysis?
8.8kViewsViewUpvotesAnswerrequestedbyVikasRoy

HarryMcLaughlin,It'saverybusysemesterI'llgettowhatquestionsIcan
WrittenJan21

IwoulddelightedtowriteananswerbutthebestadviceIcangivewouldbetorefertothe
mathinsightpage:Multivariablecalculus
Whoevercreatedthesitehasgonetogreatlengthstoexplainthemathandthemeaning
behindthemath.Thereareplentyofanimationsandappletstomessaroundwith.Takea
lookforinstanceatthedetailinexplainingthecomponentsofthecurl:Thecomponentsof
thecurl
Thereisnotalotinthewayofpracticalapplications,thoughIthinkastrong
understandingofthemathematicsunderlyingtheapplicationwillmakeitthatmuch
easiertounderstandthecontext.
IseeMarkEichenlaub'sname,whoisanexcellentwriterandrecommendreadinghis
answer.
Nowgoandlearnsomemath!
2.2kViewsViewUpvotes

NicholasMa
WrittenMay19,2013UpvotedbyAnjishnuBandyopadhyay,PhDStudentinExperimental
ParticlePhysicsfromUniversityofBonn

Soconsiderafluid,andafieldthatrepresentsthevelocityofthefluidateachpoint.Ifwe
imagineaverysmall(infinitesimal)cube,thedivergenceatthecenterofthecube
representshowmuchfluidisenteringorleavingthecubeperunittime.Similarly,thecurl
representshowmuchfluidisgoingaroundthecube.Neitheroftheseideasisveryprecise
mathematically,butitgivesanintuitiveexplanationoftheirinterpretation.

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Inparticular,thedivergencelawiseasilyunderstoodusingthisidea.Ifwedivideavolume
intomanysmallcells,andadduptheirdivergences,theflowsfromonecellintoanother
willcancelout,andsowe'releftwiththeflowinandoutofthevolume.Youcan
conceptualizeStokes'theoreminasimilarway,withtheinternalrotationcancelingout,
andonlytherotationontheboundarycontributingtotheintegral.
Bothdivergenceandcurlhavenumerousapplicationsinvectorcalculus,particularlyin
regardtofluidmechanicsandelectromagnetism.Ifwewritetheelectricandmagnetic
fieldsasvectorfieldsandthechargedensityasascalarfield,thenMaxwell'sequations
relatethemusingdivergenceandcurl.
6.6kViewsViewUpvotesAnswerrequestedbyVikasRoy

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AmanPandey,AnIndianArmyAspirant

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WrittenMay11

Thegradient,divergence,andcurlaretheresultofapplyingtheDeloperatortovarious
kindsoffunctions:
TheGradientiswhatyougetwhenyoumultiplyDelbyascalarfunction
Grad(f)=

Notethattheresultofthegradientisavectorfield.Wecansaythatthegradientoperation
turnsascalarfieldintoavectorfield.
TheDivergenceiswhatyougetwhenyoudotDelwithavectorfield
Div(

)=

Notethattheresultofthedivergenceisascalarfunction.Wecansaythatthedivergence
operationturnsavectorfieldintoascalarfield.
TheCurliswhatyougetwhenyoucrossDelwithavectorfield
Curl(

)=

Notethattheresultofthecurlisavectorfield.Wecansaythatthecurloperationturnsa
vectorfieldintoanothervectorfield.
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Weknowthedivergenceofacurliszerobuthowwillthisbetrueifavectorwhosecurlis
defined,alsoexpandsandshrinks?

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11/26/2016

HowtobestexplaindivergenceandcurlQuora

Howcanwedefinegradientdivergenceandcurl.?
WhatkindoflogicisusedinGreen's,StokesandDivergencetheorems?Cansomeone
providethebestanalogytounderstandthelogic?
Whatisanintuitive,notheavilytechnicalway,toexplainthemeaningofdivergence,curls,
Green'stheorem,Stoke'stheorem,andMaxwell's...
Whatisthedivergenceofavectorfield?
Howwouldyouexplaincurlanddivergenceinlaymanterms?
What'stheeasywaytoprovethatthecurlofgradofafunctionanddivergenceofcurlare
bothzero?
WhyarecurlanddivergenceinMaxwell'sequationswrittenintheformofadotproductof
twovectors?
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Isthedivergenceofacurrentzero?
Whatwouldbearealworldexamplewhereyoucanapplycurlanddivergence?
Whatisthemeaningoftheproductruleofcurl?
Whatisthephysicalsignificanceofdivergence,curlandgradient?
Isthereanyvectorfieldwhosedivergenceandcurlarezero?

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