Physical interpretation of circulation

[foxjwill]

Can the circulation about some closed (rigid) path in a force field be interpreted as the work done by the force field on the path over an infinitesimal time?

 

[kuruman]

Can you explain what you mean by circulation?

 

[foxjwill]

Can you explain what you mean by circulation?

The circulation of a vector field F about a closed path C is defined as \oint_C \vec{F}\cdot d\vec{\ell}.

 

[djeitnstine]

The integral along a closed path can be related directly to the curl of a field. In a flow field this can be seen as the rotatation of a flow. Lim_{A\rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{A}\oint_C \vec{F}\cdot d\vec{\ell}= \vec{\nabla} \times {F}

 

[kyiydnlm]

foxjwill, you are right, but over any duration of time.