The Divergence Theorem - Examples (MATH

2203, Calculus III)

November 29, 2013

The divergence (or flux density) of a vector field F = i + j + k is

defined to be

div (F) = F = + + .

The Divergence Theorem states that if is an oriented closed surface in 3
and is the region enclosed by and F is a vector field whose components
have continuous first partial derivatives on and its interior region , then
the outward flux of F across is equal to the triple integral of the divergence
of F over . In other words,
ZZ ZZZ
F n = div (F) .

Example 1 Let us verify the Divergence Theorem in the case that F is the
vector field F ( ) = 2 i + 2 j + 2 k and is the cube that is cut from the
first octant by the planes = 1, = 1 and = 1 Since the cube Z Zhas six faces,
we need to compute six surface integrals in order to compute F n but
ZZZ

we need only compute one triple integral to compute div (F) . We

will do both computations in order to observe that the Divergence Theorem
holds.
First let us consider the face = 0 On this face we have F ( ) =
0 i+ 2 j+ 2 k and the outward unit normal vector field on the face is n = i.
2

1
Therefore, on this face we have
ZZ ZZ
F n = 0 = 0.

Next let us consider the face = 1 On this face we have F ( ) = 12 i +

2 j + 2 k and the outward unit normal vector field on the face is n = i.
Therefore, on this face we have
ZZ ZZ
F n = 1 = Surface area of the face = 1.

By similar reasoning we can find the outward fluxes over the remaining four
faces. The final result is that
ZZ
F n = 3.

Now, to do the problem using the other part of the Divergence Theorem,
observe that

div (F) = + + = 2 + 2 + 2.

The region of integration, , is the interior of the cube. Thus
ZZZ ZZZ
div (F) = 2 ( + + )

Z 1Z 1Z 1
=2 ( + + )
0 0 0
= 3.

Example 2 Let us verify the Divergence Theorem in the case that F is the
vector field F ( ) = 2 i + j + 3k and is the sphere 2 + 2 + 2 = 4
First we will compute the surface integral. To to this we parametrize
as
r ( ) = 2 cos () sin () i + 2 sin () sin () j + 2 cos () k.
Having worked with this parametrization before, we are familiar with the fact
that
|r r | = 4 sin ()

2
and hence in the surface integral we will take

= 4 sin ()

We also see that the outward unit normal vector field to the sphere is
1
n= (i + j + k) = cos () sin () i + sin () sin () j + cos () k.
2
Thus
ZZ
F n

Z Z
2
= 4 cos3 () sin3 () + 4 cos () sin () sin2 () cos () + 6 cos2 () (4 sin ())
0 0
= 32.

It is much easier to compute the triple integral to arrive at the answer. We

have

div (F) = + + = 2 + 3

and (using spherical coordinates since is the interior of a sphere):
ZZZ Z 2 Z Z 2
div (F) = (2 cos () sin () + 3) 2 sin () = 32.
0 0 0

Example 3 Let F be the vector field

F ( ) = i + j

and let be the ice cream cone region that is boundedabove

p by the sphere
2 2 2 3
+ + = 1 and bounded below by the cone = 3 2 + 2 . Let us
verify the Divergence Theorem holds. Having studied this example before, we
recall that the ice cream meets the cone on the plane where = 12 (which
corresponds to = 3 in spherical coordinates).
We will need to compute two surface integrals. First we will do the ice
cream surface 1 . The outward unit normal vector field to this surface is

n = cos () sin () i + sin () sin () j + cos () k

3
Using spherical coordinates we have
ZZ Z 2 Z 3
2 5
Fn = cos () sin2 () + sin2 () sin2 () sin () = .
0 0 12
1

The cone surface, 2 , can be parameterized by

3
r ( ) = cos () i + sin () j + k
3
0 2

0 32

and we obtain

3
r = cos () i + sin () j + k
3
r = sin () i + cos () j

and normal vector

i j k

r r = cos () sin () 3
3
sin () cos () 0

3 3
= cos () i sin () j + k.
3 3
However this normal vector does not point outward so we use the opposite
one:
3 3
r r = cos () i+ sin () j k.
3 3
This gives us
ZZ Z 2 Z 32 !
3 2 3
F n = cos2 () + 2 sin2 () = .
0 0 3 3 4
2

The net result is that the outward flux across is

ZZ
5 2
F n = + = .
12 4 3

4
Now we do the problem the other way (which is easier). We have

div (F) = + + =2

and ZZZ Z Z Z
2 3 1
2
div (F) = 22 sin () = .
0 0 0 3