Objectives
- Understand the geometric interpretation of divergence of a vector field.
- Examine examples of divergence for various vector fields.
Section 8.3 The Divergence of a Vector Field
The divergence of a vector field is defined and motivated as a scalar measurement of how much of a vector field is created or destroyed (in the region around a point). Several vector fields are examined including a constant vector field, a purely rotational vector field and a point source vector field. The vector field is examine when zoomed in around a couple of points to see how regardless of scale, there are regions where more or less of a vector field going into the region. The final example shows a more complex vector field where the user can look at each octant separately and has the vectors in the field colored according to the divergence of the vector field.
