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Gradient Divergence Curl

- A tensor is a more generalized mathematical entity than a scalar or vector. Scalars have only magnitude, vectors have magnitude and one direction, and tensors can have magnitude and multiple directions. - A gradient is a vector operator that gives the direction of steepest increase of a scalar field like temperature at each point. A divergence is a scalar operator that gives the net flux out of or into each point of a vector field like flow. - Curl measures the degree of rotation of a vector field like fluid velocity around a point, indicating phenomena like whirlpools.

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Naik Larka
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168 views

Gradient Divergence Curl

- A tensor is a more generalized mathematical entity than a scalar or vector. Scalars have only magnitude, vectors have magnitude and one direction, and tensors can have magnitude and multiple directions. - A gradient is a vector operator that gives the direction of steepest increase of a scalar field like temperature at each point. A divergence is a scalar operator that gives the net flux out of or into each point of a vector field like flow. - Curl measures the degree of rotation of a vector field like fluid velocity around a point, indicating phenomena like whirlpools.

Uploaded by

Naik Larka
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Any quantity that has both magnitude and direction is called a vector.

Velocity, acceleration,
and force are a few examples of mechanical vectors.

if you want to change only the magnitude of a vector without changing its direction, you will
go for the multiplication of the vector with a scalar quantity.

In case you want to create a new vector with a different magnitude as well as direction (than
the initial vector) then you have to multiply the initial vector with another type of
mathematical entity called a tensor.

The tensor is a more generalized form of scalar and vector. Or, the scalar, vector are the
special cases of tensor.

If a tensor has only magnitude and no direction (i.e., rank 0 tensor), then it is
called scalar.
If a tensor has magnitude and one direction (i.e., rank 1 tensor), then it is called
vector.
If a tensor has magnitude and two directions (i.e., rank 2 tensor), then it is
called dyad.

By representing the position and motion of a single particle using vectors, the equations for motion are simpler and
more intuitive. Suppose the position of a particle at time is given by the position vector .
Then the velocity vector is the derivative of the position,

A gradient is a vector differential operator on a scalar field like temperature. Every point in
space having a specific temperature. The gradient is a differential operator that gives you a
vector field, which in every point shows you in what direction in 2 or 3 dimensional space
the field of values is increasing the fastest. By moving in the opposite direction of the
gradient you are seeing the fastest decline of the scalar value, say temperature. By moving
perpendicularly to the gradient you are staying at the same scalar value. So gradient
operates on a scalar field to give a vector field.

Divergence is a differential operator that acts on a vector field to give a scalar field, so the
opposite of gradient. If I have a vector field like a gravitational field or an electric field, by
taking the divergence I get the scalar field that is proportional to the mass or charge density
"causing" that field. Everywhere in space where we do have gravitational or electric fields,
but where no mass or charge is located, the divergence is zero

If the point saw flux entering, hed scream that everything


was closing in on him. This is a negative divergence, and the
point is capturing flux, like water going down a sink.
If the point saw flux leaving, hed sniff his armpits and say all
flux was existing. This is a positive divergence, and the point
is a source of flux, like a hose.

The symbol for divergence is the upside down triangle


for gradient (called del) with a dot [ ]. The gradient gives us
the partial derivatives (dx, dy, dz), and the dot product adds
them together (xdx + ydy + z*dz).

Curl:
Let's go back to our fluid, with the vector field representing fluid velocity. The curl measures
the degree to which the fluid is rotating about a given point, with whirlpools and tornadoes
being extreme examples.

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