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In physics, chemistry and biology, a potential gradient is the local rate of change of the potential with respect to displacement, i.e. spatial derivative, or gradient. This quantity frequently occurs in equations of physical processes because it leads to some form of flux .
The gradient of F is then normal to the hypersurface. Similarly, an affine algebraic hypersurface may be defined by an equation F(x 1, ..., x n) = 0, where F is a polynomial. The gradient of F is zero at a singular point of the hypersurface (this is the definition of a singular point). At a non-singular point, it is a nonzero normal vector.
The gradient theorem implies that line integrals through gradient fields are path-independent. In physics this theorem is one of the ways of defining a conservative force . By placing φ as potential, ∇ φ is a conservative field .
where D is the diffusion coefficient for the electron in the considered medium, n is the number of electrons per unit volume (i.e. number density), q is the magnitude of charge of an electron, μ is electron mobility in the medium, and E = −dΦ/dx (Φ potential difference) is the electric field as the potential gradient of the electric potential.
This makes it relatively easy to break complex problems down into simple parts and add their potentials. Taking the definition of φ backwards, we see that the electric field is just the negative gradient (the del operator) of the potential. Or: = ().
[a] In some cases, mathematicians may use a positive sign in front of the gradient to define the potential. [2] Because of this definition of P in terms of the gradient, the direction of F at any point is the direction of the steepest decrease of P at that point, its magnitude is the rate of that decrease per unit length. In order for F to be ...
The electric potential and the magnetic vector potential together form a four-vector, so that the two kinds of potential are mixed under Lorentz transformations. Practically, the electric potential is a continuous function in all space, because a spatial derivative of a discontinuous electric potential yields an electric field of impossibly ...
In physics, scalar fields often describe the potential energy associated with a particular force. The force is a vector field, which can be obtained as a factor of the gradient of the potential energy scalar field. Examples include: