Up the spiral staircase, again

Calculus Level 3

Find the upward flux Φ \Phi of the vector field F = ( y x 2 + y 2 , x x 2 + y 2 , 0 ) \vec{F}=\left(\frac{-y}{x^2+y^2}, \frac{x}{x^2+y^2},0\right) through the surface S S parameterized by x = r cos θ , y = r sin θ , z = θ x=r\cos\theta, y=r\sin\theta, z=\theta with 1 r 2 1\leq r \leq 2 and 0 θ π 0 \leq \theta \leq \pi .

As your answer, write 1000 Φ 1000\Phi , rounded to the nearest integer.

(from a recent final exam on vector calculus)


The answer is -2178.

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2 solutions

Steven Chase
Dec 15, 2018

1) Divergence of the vector field is zero. Therefore, if we make a closed surface, the sum of the fluxes over the constituent surfaces must be zero (according to the Divergence Theorem)
2) There are five parts to the closed surface: Two semi-circular walls (outer / inner), a bottom half-washer, the given surface, and a rectangle of width 1 1 and height π \pi .
3) Only the fluxes through the given surface and the rectangle are non-zero, so they must be equal and opposite.

On the rectangle:

F = ( 0 , 1 r , 0 ) n = ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) F n = 1 r d S = π d r F d S = π 1 2 1 r d r = π n ( 2 ) \vec{F} = (0, -\frac{1}{r}, 0) \\ \vec{n} = (0,-1,0) \\ \vec{F} \cdot \vec{n} = \frac{1}{r} \\ dS = \pi \, dr \\ \int \vec{F} \cdot \vec{dS} = \pi \int_1^2 \frac{1}{r } \, dr = \pi \, \ell n (2)

Therefore, the upward flux through the given surface must be π n ( 2 ) -\pi \, \ell n (2) . Multiplying by 1000 1000 and rounding gives 2178 -2178

@Steven Chase An interesting co-incidence which I wanted to share was that rearranging the answer gives us the approximate value of e.......!!! Hehe..........!!

Aaghaz Mahajan - 2 years, 5 months ago

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what are you saying

Nahom Assefa - 2 years, 5 months ago

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Well.......the answer is 2178........it's re arrangement is 2.718.........!!! Approximately e!!!

Aaghaz Mahajan - 2 years, 5 months ago

Indeed, Euler is everywhere if you know where to look ;)

Otto Bretscher - 2 years, 5 months ago

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True that!!! :)

Aaghaz Mahajan - 2 years, 5 months ago

Another brilliant solution! Thank you! And many thanks for helping me to get this problem right, finally!

Otto Bretscher - 2 years, 5 months ago
Otto Bretscher
Dec 15, 2018

This problem can be solved in at least three interesting ways: Directly from the given parameterisation, by means of Ostrogradsky's theorem (as in Steven's excellent solution), and by Stokes' Theorem.

Let me show the direct approach: The standard normal vector associated with the given parameterisation is N = S θ × S r = ( sin θ , cos θ , r ) \vec{N}=\frac{\partial\vec{S}}{\partial\theta}\times\frac{\partial\vec{S}}{\partial r}=(\sin \theta, -\cos \theta,r) so F N = 1 r \vec{F} \cdot \vec{N}=-\frac{1}{r} . The flux is Φ = S F d S = D F N d r d θ = 0 π 1 2 1 r d r d θ = π ln ( 2 ) 2.17759 \Phi =\int\int_S \vec{F} \cdot d\vec{S}=\int \int_D \vec{F} \cdot \vec{N} \ dr \ d \theta=-\int_{0}^{\pi}\int_{1}^{2}\frac{1}{r}\ dr\ d\theta=-\pi \ln(2)\approx -2.17759 . The required answer is 2178 \boxed{-2178} .

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