Lecture 19: 7.2 Derivation of the flow integral.

Let S be a closed surface

and for each point (x, y, z) on the surface let f (x, y, z) be the rate of ow of uid
out through the surface per unit surface area and unit time, i.e. the ow out of a
small area S during a small time t is approximately f St. The total ow
of uid out from the region enclosed by the surface per unit time is the surface
integral

f dS = lim
f (xij , yij , zij )Sij
S

Sij 0

i,j

where the sum is over a partition of S into smaller surface areas Sij , (xij , yij , zij )
is any point in Sij and we take the limit as the partition becomes ner.
Let us now calculate the rate of ow of uid f out per unit area and unit time,
given the velocity vector eld of the uid V and the density . We dene the flow
rate density by
F = V,
If S is a small area of a piece of a plane with outward unit normal n then we
claim that the ow rate out of S per unit time is given by
F n S
In fact, in a small time t, the uid particles that will reach S are at most Vt
away, and all particles within reach form a sloped cylinder with S as its base
and height V n t. Since the volume is the area of the base times the height the
amount of uid in the cylinder is the density times the volume: Vn tS. If we
divide by t we get the rate per unit time and if we divide this by S we get the
ow rate out of per unit surface area and unit time
f =Fn
The ow rate of uid out of the total surface S, or the flux of the velocity vector
eld F out of the surface S, with outward unit normal n, is the surface integral

F n dS
S

Ex Let R be the 3-dimensional region R = {x2 /4 + y + z 2 /4 1, y 0}.

Let S be the surface of R with the normal oriented outwards. Note that S has
two parts {x2 /4 + y + z 2 /4 = 1, y 0} and {y = 0, x2 /4 + z 2 /4 1}.
a) Find the area of S.

b) Find the ux of F = xi yj + k through S;

F n dS.
S

2. Let S1 = {(x, y, z); y = 0, x2 /4+z 2 /4 1}, S2 = {(x, y, z); x2 /4+y+z 2 /4 = 1, y 0}

The area of S1 is 4. S2 can be viewed as a graph y = g(x, z) = 1x2 /4z 2 /4 over
the disc D = {(x, z); x2 /4+z 2 /4 1} in the xz-plane. With G(x, y, z) = y g(x, z)
gx i gz k + j
xi/2 + zk/2 + j
G
=
=
. Now dS =
the unit normal is n =
2
2
2 /4 + z 2 /4
|G|
1
+
g
+
g
1
+
x
x
z

dxdz/nj = 1 + (x2 + z 2 )/4 dxdz. Introducing polar coordinates in the xz-plane:

1

dS =
S2

x2 + z 2 )1/2
1+
dxdz =
4

2
0

2(

r2 )1/2
4 ( r2 )3/2 2
4
1+
drdr = 2 1+
 = 2 (23/21)
4
3
4
3
0

(b) The normal to S1 is n = j and there

F n = y = 0 so the integral over S1
2
vanishes. Since F n = (x /2 + z/2 y)/ 1 + x2 /4 + z 2 /4 we obtain

( 2
)
2
Fn dS =
(x /2+z/2y)dxdz =
x /2+z/2(1(x2 +z 2 )/4) dxdz
S2

Introducing polar coordinates in the xz-plane; x = r cos , z = r sin , dxdz = rdrd;

2 2( 2
2 2( 2
)
)
r
r
r
r
2
(2 cos +1)+ sin 1 d rdr =
(cos 2+2) sin 1 d rdr = ... = 0
4
2
4
2
0 0
0 0
Alternative solution: Let T(x, z) = xi + g(x, z)j + zk and

F n dS =
S2

x2 +z 2 4

F (Tx Tz ) dxdz = . . .

7.3 Gauss Theorem or The divergence theorem. states that if W is a volume

bounded by a surface S with outward unit normal n and F = F1 i + F2 j + F3 k is a
continuously dierentiable vector eld in W then

F1
F2
F3
F n dS =
div F dV,
where div F =
+
+
.
x
y
z
S
W
Let us however rst look at a one dimensional and a two dimensional analogue.
A one dimensional analogue if the First Fundamental Theorem of Calculus:

f (b) f (a) =

f (x) dx.

A two dimensional analogue says that if D is a region in the plane with boundary
curve C and n = (n1 , n2 ) is the outward unit normal to C, then

(
F1
F2 )
F1 n1 + F2 n2 ds =
+
dA
x
y
C
D

where ds is the arclength. (This is in fact equivalent to Greens Theorem.)

Ex. Find ux of F = 2x i + y 2 j + z 2 k out of the unit sphere S.
Sol. By the divergence theorem we have with B the unit ball

F n dS =
div F dV =
(2 + 2y + 2z) dV
S
B
B

4
=
2dV +
2ydV +
2zdV = 2 Vol(B) + 0 + 0 = 2
3
B
B
B
since the last two integrals vanishes because the region is symmetric under replacing
y by y (respectively z by z) but the integrand changes sign.
Ex. Find ux of F = x i + y j 2z k out of the unit sphere.
Sol. By the divergence theorem the ux is equal to the integral of the divergence
over the unit ball. Since div F = 0 it follows that the volume integral vanishes and
by the divergence theorem the ux therefore vanishes.
Let B be a ball of radius and let S be its surface. Then

F n dS =
div F dV
S

By the mean value theorem for integrals the right hand side is equal to the volume
of the box B times div F at some point in the box so we get the interpretation of
the divergence that we announced in section 3.3:
Flux of F out through S = Vol(B ) div F
where div F is evaluated at some point in B . Hence
Flux of F out through S
0
Vol(B )

div F = lim

Proof of the divergence theorem for convex sets.

We say that a domain V is convex if for every two points in V the line segment
between the two points is also in V , e.g. any sphere or rectangular box is convex.
We will prove the divergence theorem for convex domains V . Since F = F1 i +
F3 j+F3 k the theorem follows from proving the theorem for each of the three vector
elds F1 i, F2 j and F3 k separately. The theorem for the vector eld F3 k states that

(F3 k) n dS =
S

F3
dV
z

Since V is convex we can write V = {(x, y, z); f1 (x, y) z f2 (x, y), (x, y) D}.
Then S consists of two parts S1 = {(x, y, z); z = f1 (x, y), (x, y) D} and
S2 = {(x, y, z); z = f2 (x, y), (x, y) D}. We have

f2 (x,y)
F3
F3
dzdxdy =
dz dxdy
z
z
D f1 (x,y)

(
)
(
)
=
F3 (x, y, f2 (x, y) dxdy
F3 (x, y, f1 (x, y) dxdy
D

We know that dxdy = k n dS on S2 and dxdy = k n dS on S1 so (5.1.4) follows.

Ex. Gauss law Let F = (xi + yj + zk)/(x2 + y 2 + z 2 )3/2 . Let Sa be the sphere
of radius a centered at the origin. Find the ux of F out of Sa
Sol. A calculation shows that
= 0, when |x| = 0. Hence by the
div F = ...
divergence theorem the ux is Sa F n dS =
div F dV , where Ba is the ball
Ba
of radius a centered at 0. From this we deduce that the ux is 0 but this answer
is wrong! In fact the outward unit normal to Sa = {(x, y, z); x2 + y 2 + z 2 = a2 } is
n = (xi + yj + zk)/(x2 + y 2 + z 2 )1/2 . It therefore follows that

F n dS =
Sa

Sa

dS
=
2
x + y2 + z2

Sa

1
1
1
dS = 2 Area (Sa ) = 2 4a2 = 4
2
a
a
a

Therefore there appears to be a contradiction and we conclude that the divergence

theorem is not valid in this case. In fact F to be continuously dierentiable and
bounded in V and F is unbounded at the origin. We also remark that the ux out
of any region of F is 4 if the region contains the origin and 0 if the region does
not contain the origin.