1. ### Divergence of a radial field ##F=\hat{r}/r^{2+\varepsilon}##

Following (1), \begin{align*} \text{div} F = \vec{\nabla} \cdot \vec{F} &= \frac{1}{r^2} \frac{\partial}{\partial r} \left( r^2 F_{r}\right) \\ &= \frac{1}{r^2} \frac{\partial }{\partial r} \left( r^2 \frac{1}{r^{2+\varepsilon}}\right) \\ &= \frac{1}{r^2} \frac{\partial}{\partial r}...
2. ### Nabla operations, vector calculus problem

Here is how my teacher solved this: I understand what the nabla operator does, ##∇\cdot\vec v## means that I am supposed to calculate ##\sum_{n=1}^3\frac {d\vec v} {dx_n}## where ##x_n## are cylindrical coordinates and ##\vec e_3 = \vec e_z##. I understand why ##∇\cdot\vec v = 0##, I would get...
3. ### I Divergence of a position vector in spherical coordinates

I know the divergence of any position vectors in spherical coordinates is just simply 3, which represents their dimension. But there's a little thing that confuses me. The vector field of A is written as follows, , and the divergence of a vector field A in spherical coordinates are written as...
4. ### I Divergence with Chain Rule

I am looking at the derivation for the Entropy equation for a Newtonian Fluid with Fourier Conduction law. At some point in the derivation I see \frac{1}{T} \nabla \cdot (-\kappa \nabla T) = - \nabla \cdot (\frac{\kappa \nabla T}{T}) - \frac{\kappa}{T^2}(\nabla T)^2 K is a constant and T...
5. ### I A one dimensional example of divergence: Mystery

I am trying to understand “divergence” by considering a one-dimensional example of the vector y defined by: . the parabola: y = -1 + x^2 The direction of the vector y will either be to the right ( R) when y is positive or to the Left (L). The gradient = dy/dx = Divergence = Div y = 2 x x...
6. ### Divergence of an Electric Field due to an ideal dipole

Given $$\vec E = -\nabla \phi$$ there $$\vec d \rightarrow 0, \phi(\vec r) = \frac {\vec p \cdot \vec r} {r^3}$$ and ##\vec p## is the dipole moment defined as $$\vec p = q\vec d$$ It's quite trivial to show that ##\nabla \times \vec E = \nabla \times (-\nabla \phi) = 0##. However, I want to...
7. ### I The continuity equation and the divergence

according to continuity equation (partial ρ)/(partial t) +divergence J = 0 . there is such a situation that there is continuous water spreads out from the center of a sphere with unchanged density ρ, and at the center dm/dt = C(a constant), divergence of J = ρv should be 0 anywhere except the...
8. ### I What is the physical meaning of divergence?

I want to visualize the concept of divergence of a vector field.I also have searched the web.Some says it is 1.the amount of flux per unit volume in a region around some point 2.Divergence of vector quantity indicates how much the vector spreads out from the certain point.(is a...
9. ### Divergence operator for multi-dimensional neutron diffusion

Homework Statement [1] is the one-speed steady-state neutron diffusion equation, where D is the diffusion coefficient, Φ is the neutron flux, Σa is the neutron absorption cross-section, and S is an external neutron source. Solving this equation using a 'homogeneous' material allows D to be...

14. ### I Divergence of ##\frac {1} {r^2} \hat r##

Basically a case where a positive charge q is placed in space which for convenience is taken as the origin. This electric field must have a large positive divergence but yet when evaluated mathematically we get 0. Also when we find divergence, we find it for a point right ? or is it possible to...
15. ### I Divergence of downhill flowing water

I just learned that an incompressible fluid must have zero divergence within a given control volume. Given that the divergence of a fluid at a point(x,y,z) can be found by taking the scalar sum of the of the x, y, z acceleration vectors at the given point, wouldn't this mean that water flowing...
16. ### I What is the gradient of a divergence and is it always zero?

Hi Folks, Was just curious as to what is the gradient of a divergence is and is it always equal to the zero vector. I am doing some free lance research and find that I need to refresh my knowledge of vector calculus a bit. I am having some difficulty with finding web-based sources for the...
17. ### Polar Divergence of a Vector

Homework Statement Find the divergence of the function ##\vec{v} = (rcos\theta)\hat{r}+(rsin\theta)\hat{\theta}+(rsin\theta cos\phi)\hat{\phi}## Homework Equations ##\nabla\cdot\vec{v}=\frac{1}{r^2}\frac{\partial}{\partial r}(r^2v_r)+\frac{1}{r sin\theta}\frac{\partial}{\partial...
18. ### I Divergence of v x B = Divergence of E in the v=0 frame?

Consider a scenario where in one frame R, I have a magnet at rest and a solid slab of charges with an arbitrarily large mass moving at velocity v. The overall acceleration of the slab is trivial, however, the v x B exerted on the slab is divergent, thus compressive/tensile stresses are exerted...
19. ### Divergence of electrostatic field?

Homework Statement By Gauss' law, how is it able to obtain ## \nabla \cdot \vec{E} = \frac{\rho}{\epsilon_0} ## ? By Coulomb's law, ##\vec{E} = \frac{1}{4\pi\epsilon_0} \frac{q}{r^2} \hat{r}## I calculate the divergence of ##\frac{1}{r^2} \hat{r}## and get the result is zero That means the...
20. ### A Divergent Diagrams in the Standard Model

It is my understanding that the task of enumerating all of the divergent diagrams in a quantum field theory can be reduced to analyzing a hand full of diagrams (well, at the moment I know that this is at least true for QED and phi^4 theory), and that all other divergent diagrams are divergent...
21. ### Series: Determine if they are convergent or divergent

Homework Statement I have a couple of series where I need to find out if they are convergent (absolute/conditional) or divergent. Σ(n3/3n Σk(2/3)k Σ√n/1+n2 Σ(-1)n+1*n/n^2+9 Homework Equations Comparison Test Ratio Test Alternating Series Test Divergence Test, etc The Attempt at a...
22. ### Need Help With Gradient (Spherical Coordinates)

Homework Statement Find te gradient of the following function f(r) = rcos(##\theta##) in spherical coordinates. Homework Equations \nabla f = \frac{\partial f}{\partial r} \hat{r} + (\frac{1}{r}) \frac{\partial f}{\partial \theta} \hat{\theta} + \frac{1}{rsin\theta}...
23. ### Beam Divergence from non-circular laser beam

Homework Statement The laser beam is not a point source. It is known that it has a rectangular shape with a divergence of 30 mrad x 1 mrad. I would like to know how large my laser lobe will be at a distance of 250 mm from the laser source. Homework Equations I think you can use trigonometri...
24. ### Evaluate: ∇(∇ . r(hat)/r) where r is a position vector

Homework Statement ∇ . r = 3, ∇ x r = 0 Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution So far I've gotten up to ∇(∇^2 r)
25. ### I Magnetostatics: What if "steady" currents were divergent?

Why must steady currents be non-divergent in magnetostatics? Based on an article by Kirk T. McDonald (http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/current.pdf), it appears that the answer is that by extrapolating the linear time dependence of the charge density from a constant divergence...
26. ### I Divergence of the Navier-Stokes Equation

The Navier-Stokes equation is: (DUj/Dt) = v [(∂2Ui/∂xj∂xi) + (∂2Uj/∂xi∂xi)] – 1/ρ (∇p) where D/Dt is the material (substantial) derivative, v is the kinematic viscosity and ∇p is the modified pressure gradient (taking into account gravity and pressure). Note that the velocity field is...
27. ### Why does it matter what convergence test I use?

I just took a calc 2 test and got 3/8 points on several problems that asked you to show convergence or divergence. The reason being that I didn't use the correct test of convergence? The answer was right, if you get to the point where you know the series converges, then why does it matter which...
28. ### Proof for Convergent of Series With Seq. Similar to 1/n

Homework Statement \sum\limits_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{n-1}{(n+2)(n+3)} Homework Equations S=\sum\limits_{n=1}^{\infty}a_n (1) \lim\limits_{n\rightarrow\infty}\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n}\gt 1\rightarrow S\ is\ divergent (2) \lim\limits_{n\rightarrow\infty}\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n}\lt 1\rightarrow S\ is\...
29. ### What does divergence of electric field = 0 mean?

Homework Statement I just want to focus on the divergence outside the cylinder (r >R) Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution For r > R, I said ∇ * E = p/ε But that's wrong. The answer is ∇ * E = 0 I'm confused because there is definitely an electric field outside the cylinder (r...
30. ### Sequence Convergence/Divergence Question

Homework Statement Determine which of the sequences converge or diverge. Find the limit of the convergent sequences. 1) {asubn}= [((n^2) + (-1)^n)] / [(4n^2)] Homework Equations [/B] a1=first term, a2=second term...an= nth term The Attempt at a Solution a) So I found the first couple of...