Encyclopedia Magnetica™

Schematic illustration of gradient (of scalar field), divergence and curl (of a vector field), used in vector calculus.

For a scalar field the scalar values change, and the gradient denotes the direction of steepest slope.

For a vector field, the divergence “measures” if the there is a source (or sink) for the field.

For a vector field, the curl “measures” circulation of the field.

This drawing was inspired by:

Daniel Fleisch, A Student's Guide to Vectors and Tensors, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012, ISBN 9780521171908
Corinne A. Manogue, Tevian Dray, Visualizing Divergence and Curl, The Geometry of Static Fields, {accessed 2022-01-09}

curl_magnetica.png

You are permitted and indeed encouraged to use this image freely, for any legal purpose including commercial, and with any modifications (the permission is hereby given, so there is no need to ask for it explicitly again), but you MUST always give the following credits:

S. Zurek, Encyclopedia Magnetica, CC-BY-4.0

We would appreciate if you let us know of any use: info@e-magnetica.pl

Vector calculus, Gradient, Grad, Divergence, Div, Curl, Rotation, Right-hand system, Vectors, Scalar, Vector field, Scalar field, Files