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DIVERGENCE of A Vector Field

The divergence of a vector field measures the local "outgoingness" or extent to which the field exits an infinitesimal region of space rather than entering it. If the divergence is non-zero at a point, there must be a source or sink of the quantity represented by the field at that point. For example, the divergence of a current density field describes the net flux of a conserved quantity like electric charge entering or leaving a volume element. Taking the divergence of the current density field yields the equation of continuity, relating the time rate of change of the quantity within a region to the net flux entering or leaving that region.

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995 views3 pages

DIVERGENCE of A Vector Field

The divergence of a vector field measures the local "outgoingness" or extent to which the field exits an infinitesimal region of space rather than entering it. If the divergence is non-zero at a point, there must be a source or sink of the quantity represented by the field at that point. For example, the divergence of a current density field describes the net flux of a conserved quantity like electric charge entering or leaving a volume element. Taking the divergence of the current density field yields the equation of continuity, relating the time rate of change of the quantity within a region to the net flux entering or leaving that region.

Uploaded by

Jimseng
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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DIVERGENCE of a Vector Field

If we form the scalar (``dot'') product of with a vector function we get


a scalar result called the DIVERGENCE of :

This name is actually quite mnemonic: the DIVERGENCE of a vector field is a local
measure of its ``outgoingness'' -- i.e. the extent to which there is more exiting an
infinitesimal region of space than entering it. If the field is represented as ``flux lines''
of some indestructible ``stuff'' being emitted by ``sources'' and absorbed by ``sinks,''
then a nonzero DIVERGENCE at some point means there must be a source or sink at
that position. That is to say,

``What leaves a region is no longer in it.''

For example, consider the divergence of the CURRENT DENSITY , which describes
the FLUX of a CONSERVED QUANTITY such as electric charge Q. (Mass, as in the
current of a river, would do just as well.)

Figure: Flux into and out of a volume

element .

To make this as easy as possible, let's picture a cubical volume element


. In general, will (like any vector) have three components (Jx, Jy,
Jz), each of which may be a function of position (x,y,z). If we take the lower left front
corner of the cube to have coordinates (x,y,z) then the upper right back corner has

coordinates . Let's concentrate first on Jz and how it


depends on z.

It may not depend on z at all, of course. In this case, the amount of Q coming into the
cube through the bottom surface (per unit time) will be the same as the amount of Q
going out through the top surface and there will be no net gain or loss of Q in the
volume - at least not due to Jz.

If Jz is bigger at the top, however, there will be a net loss of Q within the volume dV
due to the ``divergence'' of Jz. Let's see how much: the difference between Jz(z) at the

bottom and Jz(z+dz) at the top is, by definition, . The flux is over

the same area at top and bottom, namely , so the total rate of loss of Q due to
the z-dependence of Jz is given by

A perfectly analogous argument holds for the x-dependence if Jx and the y-dependence
of Jy, giving a total rate of change of Q
The total amount of Q in our volume element dV at a given instant is just , of
course, so the rate of change of the enclosed Q is just

which means that we can write

or, just cancelling out the common factor dV on both sides of the equation,

which is the compact and elegant ``differential form'' of the EQUATION OF


CONTINUITY.

This equation tells us that the ``Q sourciness'' of each point in space is given by the
degree to which flux ``lines'' of tend to radiate away from that point more than they
converge toward that point - namely, the DIVERGENCE of at the point in question.
This esoteric-looking mathematical expression is, remember, just a formal way of
expressing our original dumb tautology!

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