Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Bottom: Field line through a curved surface, showing the setup of the unit normal and surface element to calculate flux. To calculate the flux of a vector field F (red arrows) through a surface S the surface is divided into small patches dS. The flux through each patch is equal to the normal (perpendicular) component of the field, the dot ...
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the quantity of the vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point.
Fick's first law relates the diffusive flux to the gradient of the concentration. It postulates that the flux goes from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration, with a magnitude that is proportional to the concentration gradient (spatial derivative), or in simplistic terms the concept that a solute will move from a region of high concentration to a region of low ...
Generically, these equations state that the divergence of the flow of the conserved quantity is equal to the distribution of sources or sinks of that quantity. The divergence theorem states that any such continuity equation can be written in a differential form (in terms of a divergence) and an integral form (in terms of a flux). [12]
Flux F through a surface, dS is the differential vector area element, n is the unit normal to the surface. Left: No flux passes in the surface, the maximum amount flows normal to the surface. Right: The reduction in flux passing through a surface can be visualized by reduction in F or dS equivalently (resolved into components, θ is angle to ...
To be able to calculate this time evolution, one needs to know how to calculate the flux. This section explores the simplest hypothesis: flux is linearly related to the concentration difference (just as for molecular diffusion). This also comes as the most intuitive guess from the analysis just made. Flux is in principle a vector.
The diffusion equation is a parabolic partial differential equation.In physics, it describes the macroscopic behavior of many micro-particles in Brownian motion, resulting from the random movements and collisions of the particles (see Fick's laws of diffusion).
The simple but crucial difference between the Teorell formula and the Onsager laws is the concentration factor in the Teorell expression for the flux. In the Einstein–Teorell approach, if for the finite force the concentration tends to zero then the flux also tends to zero, whereas the Onsager equations violate this simple and physically ...