# What are solenoidal and irrotational field?

## What are solenoidal and irrotational field?

An irrotational vector field is a vector field where curl is equal to zero everywhere. Similarly, an incompressible vector field (also known as a solenoidal vector field) is one in which divergence is equal to zero everywhere.

What is the condition for solenoidal?

If a Vector S satisfies the condition: ∇⋅S=0, it is called a solenoidal vector.

### Is electrostatic field solenoidal?

Gauss’s law for magnetism shows that magnetic fields are always solenoidal, while in electostatics electric fields are solenoidal only in regions of space where there is no net electric charge. In general Faraday’s law shows that any electric field in electrostatics has zero curl.

What makes a field solenoidal?

Solenoidal fields are characterized by their so-called vector potential, that is, a vector field A such that a=curlA. Examples of solenoidal fields are field of velocities of an incompressible liquid and the magnetic field within an infinite solenoid.

#### What is the meaning of solenoidal vector field?

In vector calculus a solenoidal vector field (also known as an incompressible vector field, a divergence-free vector field, or a transverse vector field) is a vector field v with divergence zero at all points in the field: A common way of expressing this property is to say that the field has no sources or sinks.

Which field is solenoidal?

## Which vector field is solenoidal?

The lines of flow diverge from a source and converge to a sink. If there is no gain or loss of fluid anywhere then div F = 0. Such a vector field is said to be solenoidal. A key point: F is a vector and the curl of F is a vector.

What makes a field Solenoidal?

### Can a vector field be expressed as a solenoidal field?

The fundamental theorem of vector calculus states that any vector field can be expressed as the sum of an irrotational and a solenoidal field. The condition of zero divergence is satisfied whenever a vector field v has only a vector potential component, because the definition of the vector potential A as:

What does it mean to have a closed solenoidal field?

In the present context of solenoidal it means constrained as if in a pipe, so with a fixed volume. . ^ This statement does not mean that the field lines of a solenoidal field must be closed, neither that they cannot begin or end.

#### What is the origin of the word solenoidal?

(Strictly speaking, this holds subject to certain technical conditions on v, see Helmholtz decomposition .) Solenoidal has its origin in the Greek word for solenoid, which is σωληνοειδές (sōlēnoeidēs) meaning pipe-shaped, from σωλην (sōlēn) or pipe. In the present context of solenoidal it means constrained as if in a pipe, so with a fixed volume.