A conservative field is a function of position/configuration, what about a non-conservative field? It's a function dependent on what?
208k 48 48 gold badges 570 570 silver badges 2.3k 2.3k bronze badges asked Oct 1, 2013 at 17:56 49 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 4 4 bronze badges$\begingroup$ I think you need to reconsider your idea of a non-conservative field. Here's a simple example of one: $F = y\hat x$ $\endgroup$
Commented Oct 1, 2013 at 19:41A conservative field is a vector field where the integral along every closed path is zero. Examples are gravity, and static electric and magnetic fields.
A non-conservative field is one where the integral along some path is not zero. Wind velocity, for example, can be non-conservative. Basically in simple terms, if the field has a "swirl", it is probably not conservative.
answered Oct 1, 2013 at 18:11 Olin Lathrop Olin Lathrop 13k 1 1 gold badge 31 31 silver badges 47 47 bronze badges $\begingroup$a conservative field can mathematically be defined as a field where every integral along any closed path return a value of zero, an equivalent definition a force is conservative if the curl (vector product of the del operator and the potential) of the potential is zero, that is the potential is irrotational. most forces are conservative; the most common exceptions are those relating to any sort of friction, because this depend on the direction of motion.
answered Oct 2, 2013 at 0:17 alejandro123 alejandro123 607 7 7 silver badges 18 18 bronze badgesTo subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader.
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