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I need help solving this question from my textbook.

Compute the flux of the vector field: $$\vec F = 4xz\vec i + 2 y\vec k$$ through the surface $S$, which is the hemisphere: $x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = 9 , z \geq 0$ oriented upward.

How do I continue? Which theorem do I need to solve this problem?

  • You need to know how to compute surface integrals when your surface is given parametrically (you need use spherical coordinates) or explicitly and afterward you need pick the right normal vector. – Neutral Element May 19 '15 at 19:17

1 Answers1

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The flux is given by

$$\text{Flux}=\int_S \vec F\cdot \hat ndS$$

Here, $\hat n=(\hat xx+\hat yy+\hat zz)/\sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ in spherical coordinates and

$$\vec F\cdot \hat n=(\hat x 4xz+\hat z2y)\cdot (\hat xx+\hat yy+\hat zz)/\sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}=2z(2x^2+y)/3$$

Now, we will convert to spherical coordinates with $x=3\sin \theta \cos \phi$, $y=3\sin \theta \sin \phi$, and $z=3\cos \theta$. We can now write

$$\begin{align} \text{Flux}&=\int_S \vec F\cdot \hat ndS\\\\ &=\int_{0}^{2\pi}\int_{0}^{\pi/2}(36\sin^2 \theta \cos^2 \phi \cos\theta +6 \sin \theta \sin \phi \cos \theta)\,9\sin \theta d\theta d\phi\\\\ &=324\pi\left(\int_{0}^{\pi/2}\sin^3 \theta \cos \theta d\theta\right)\\\\ &=81\pi \end{align}$$


NOTE: We tacitly used $\int_{0}^{2\pi} \sin \phi d\phi=0$ and $\int_{0}^{2\pi} \cos^2 \phi d\phi=\pi$ in carrying out the integrations over $\phi$.

Mark Viola
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