The Divergence Theorem
The Physical Meaning of Divergence
Consider water in a shallow pool. In the pool are some sources of
water, some "sinks" of water (e.g. drains) and some barriers to water
movement. The resulting motion of water is a vector field: at each point
in the pool, the water has a certain velocity vector.
The physical meaning of divergence is the "outflow per unit area" so we
expect the divergence to be negative at a sink and positive at a source.
You will need to invoke Maple for this lab.
Outline
Next: Divergence at a Point
Frederick J. Wicklin <fjw@geom.umn.edu>
Brian Burt<burt@geom.umn.edu>
Document Created: Wed Jan 25 CST
Last modified: Tue Sep 26 13:31:33 1995