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In vector calculus, the divergence theorem, also known as Gauss's theorem or Ostrogradsky's theorem, [1] is a theorem relating the flux of a vector field through a closed surface to the divergence of the field in the volume enclosed.
In physics (specifically electromagnetism), Gauss's law, also known as Gauss's flux theorem (or sometimes Gauss's theorem), is one of Maxwell's equations. It is an application of the divergence theorem , and it relates the distribution of electric charge to the resulting electric field .
In vector calculus, the divergence theorem, also known as Gauss's theorem or Ostrogradsky's theorem, is a result that relates the flow (that is, flux) of a vector field through a surface to the behavior of the vector field inside the surface.
This identity is derived from the divergence theorem applied to the vector field F = ψ ∇φ while using an extension of the product rule that ∇ ⋅ (ψ X) = ∇ψ ⋅X + ψ ∇⋅X: Let φ and ψ be scalar functions defined on some region U ⊂ R d, and suppose that φ is twice continuously differentiable, and ψ is once continuously differentiable.
By the divergence theorem, Gauss's law for the field P can be stated in differential form as: =, where ∇ · P is the divergence of the field P through a given surface containing the bound charge density .
Gauss's law for magnetism thus states that the net magnetic flux through a closed surface equals zero. The integral and differential forms of Gauss's law for magnetism are mathematically equivalent, due to the divergence theorem. That said, one or the other might be more convenient to use in a particular computation.
It is impossible to mathematically prove Newton's law from Gauss's law alone, because Gauss's law specifies the divergence of g but does not contain any information regarding the curl of g (see Helmholtz decomposition). In addition to Gauss's law, the assumption is used that g is irrotational (has zero curl), as gravity is a conservative force:
It is an arbitrary closed surface S = ∂V (the boundary of a 3-dimensional region V) used in conjunction with Gauss's law for the corresponding field (Gauss's law, Gauss's law for magnetism, or Gauss's law for gravity) by performing a surface integral, in order to calculate the total amount of the source quantity enclosed; e.g., amount of ...