3 Vector Integral Calculus 341 Vector integrals; the line integral of Vw We found in Chapter 2 that there were various ways of taking derivatives of fields. Some gave vector fields; some gave scalar fields, Although we developed ‘many different formulas, everything in Chapter 2 could be summarized in one rule: the operators a/4x, 9/2y, and 4/2z are the three components ofa vector operator '¥. We would now like to get some understanding of the significance ofthe deriva- tives of fields. We will then have a better feling for what a vector field equation means. We have already discussed the meaning of the gradient operation (¥ on a scalar). Now we turn to the meanings of the divergence and curl operations. ‘The interpretation of these quantities is best done in terms of certain vector integrals and equations relating such integrals. These equations cannot, unfor- tunately, be obtained from vector algebra by some easy substitution, so you will just have to learn them as something new. Of these integral formulas, one is ‘ractcelly trivia, but the other two are not. We will derive them and explain their implications. The equations we shall study are really mathematical theorems. They will be useful not only for interpreting the meaning and the content of the divergence and the curl, but also in working out general physical theories. These ‘mathematical theorems are, forthe theory of fields, what the theorem of the con- servation of eneray is to the mechanics of particle. General theorems like these are important for a deeper understanding of physics. You will find, though, that they are not very useful for solving problems—except in the simplest cases." It is 4elightful, however, that in the beginning of our subject there will be many simple problems which ean be solved with the three integral formulas we are going to treat. We will see, however, as the problems get harder, that we can no longer use ‘these simple methods. We take up first an integral formula involving the gradient. The relation contains a very simple idea: Since the gradient represents the rate of change of feld quantity, if we integrate that rate of change, we should get the total change. ‘Suppose we have the scalar fild W(x, ,2). At any two points (1) and (2), the function y will have the values ¥{1) and ¥(2), respectively. [We use a convenient rotation, in which (2) represents the point (x2, y's, 2) and ¥(2) means the same thing as ¥(xa, 2, 22).] IfT(gamma)is any curve joining (I) and (2), asin Fig. 3-1, v@) — vl) = f. (WH) ds. @.) ‘The integral is a line integral, from (1) to (2) along the curve F, of the dot product of ¥y—a vector—with ds—another vector Which is an infinitesimal line element of the curve T (directed away from (1) and toward (2). First, we should review what we mean by a line integral. Consider a scalar function ftx, y, 2), and the curve T joining two points (1) and (2). We mark off the curve at a number of points and join these points by straight-line segments, as shown in Fig. 3-2. Each segment has the length As,, where /is an index that runs 1,2,3,... By the line integral 4 341 Vector integrals; the line integral of Vo 3-2 The flax of a vector field 3-3 The flux from a cube; Gauss? theorem 3-4 Heat conduction; the diffusion equation 3-5 The circulation of a vector field 3-6 The circulation around a squares Stokes" theorem 347 Curl-tree and divergence-free fields 3-8 Summary 2) Curve r 4s on Fig. 3-1. The terms used in Eq. (3.1) The vector VY evaluated at the line Fig. 3-2. The line integral it the limit of @ som.Fig. 3-3. The closed wrface § fies the volume V. The unit vector m the outward normol to the surface ‘we mean the limit of the sum Lhasa where f is the value of the function at the ith segment. The limiting value is what the sum approaches as we add more and more segments (in a sensible way, so that the largest as; — 0). ‘The integral in our theorem, Eq. (3.1), means the same thing, although it looks a litle different. Instead of f, we have another scalar—the component of ‘Vy in the direction of As. If we write (TY), for this tangential component, it is clear that (RY) ds = (WH) >a. 2) ‘The integral in Eq. (3.1) means the sum of such terms. ‘Now let’s see why Eq. (3.1) is true. In Chapter 1, we showed that the com= ponent of Vy along a small displacement AR was the rate of change of yin the direction of AR. Consider the line segment As from (1) to point a in Fig. 3-2. ‘According to our definition, 4h = Ha) ~ V0) = (Wr As. @3) Also, we have 40) — Va) = (WW)a- Ass, 4) where, of course, (Vy): means the gradient evaluated at the segment As,, and (Wo)a, the gradient evaluated at Ass. If we add Eqs, (3.3) and (4), we get V0) — MCL) = (WP An + (WV) As ey You can see that if we keep adding such terms, we get the result ¥Q) — YO) = CCW) se eo ‘The left-hand side doesn’t depend on how we choose our intervals—if (1) and (2) are kept always the same—so we can take the limit of the right-hand side, We have therefore proved Eq. @.1) ‘You can see from our proof that just as the equality doesn’t depend on how the points a, 5, c,-.., are chosen, similarly it doesn’t depend on what we choose for the curve’ t0 o1n (1) and (2). Our theorem is correct for any curve from (1) 10 (2). ‘One remark on notation: You will see that there is no confusion if we write, for convenience, (PY) ds = vy ds, on With this notation, our theorem is ‘Taeone 1 ¥@) — v0) = [, Ve ds. G8) 3.2 The flux of a vector field Before we consider our next integral theorem-—a theorem about the divergence —we would like to study a certain idea which has an easily understood physical significance in the case of heat flow. We have defined the vector , which represents the heat that flows through a unit area in a unit time, Suppose that inside a block cof material we have some closed surface $ which encloses the volume V (Fig. 3-3). We would like to find out how much heat is flowing out of this volume, We can, of course, find it by calculating the total heat flow out of the surface S. We write da for the area of an element of the surface. The symbol stands for 4 two-dimensional differential. If, for instance, the area happened to be in the co-plane we would have da = dxdy. a2Later we shall have integrals over volume and for these itis convenient to con- sider a differential volume that is a little cube. So when we write dV we mean aV = dedy de Some people like to write da instead of da to remind themselves that it is kind of a second-order quantity. They would also write d*V instead of dV. We will use the simpler notation, and assume that you can remember that an area has two dimensions and a volume has three. ‘The heat flow out through the surface element da is the area times the com- Ponent off perpendicular toda, We have already defined masa unit vector pointing ‘outward at right angles to the surface (Fig. 3-3). The component of h that we want is fy = hom 69) ‘The heat flow out through da is then, he nda, G10) To get the total heat flow through any surface we sum the contributions from all the elements of the surface. In other words, we integrate (3.10) over the whole surface: Total heat flow outward through $= Lt onda, BID ‘We are also going to call this surface integral “the flux of & through the sur- face.” Originally the word flux meant flow, so that the surface integral just means the flow of # through the surface. We may think: Ais the “current density” of hheat flow and the surface integral of itis the total heat current directed out of the surface; that is, the thermal energy per unit time (joules per second). We would like to generalize this idea to the case where the vector does not represent the flow of anything; for instance, it might be the electri field. We can certainly still integrate the normal component of the electric field over an area if we wish. Although itis not the flow of anything, we still cal it the “flux.” We say Flux of E through the surface S = B-mda, @.12) We generalize the word “flux” to mean the “surface integral of the normal com- ponent” of a vector. We will also use the same definition even when the surface considered is not a closed one, as itis here. Returning to the special case of heat flow, let us take a situation in which ‘heat is conserved. For example, imagine some material in which after an initial heating no further heat energy is generated or absorbed. Then, if there is a net heat flow out of a closed surface, the heat content of the volume inside must decrease. So, in cizcumstances in which heat would be conserved, we say that . _@ [ease ®, ow where is the heat inside the surface, The heat flux out of Ss equal to minus the rate of change with respect to time of the total heat Q inside of S. This interpreta- tion is possible because we are speaking of heat flow and also because we supposed that the heat was conserved. We could not, of course, speak of the total heat inside the volume if heat were being generated there. ‘Now we shall point out an interesting fact about the flux of any vector, You ‘may think of the heat flow vector if you wish, but what we say will be trie for any vector field C. Imagine that we have a closed surface S that encloses the volume ¥. ‘We now separate the volume into two parts by some kind of a “cut,” as in Fig. 3-4, Now we have two closed surfaces and volumes. The volume ¥; is enclosed in the surface Sy, which is made up of part of the original surface S, and of the surface of the cut, Sip. The volume V2 is enclosed by Ss, which is made up of the rest of the original surface S;, and closed off by the cut Syy. Now consider the a