A quasi-static chemical potential outside a fixed-shape droplet solves the same Laplace equation as an electrostatic potential outside an equipotential conductor. If on the droplet and zero on the surrounding reservoirs, its outward diffusive current is
where is the corresponding electrostatic capacitance in a medium of permittivity . The arbitrary cancels against the capacitance's proportionality to . Thus electrostatic geometry directly determines evaporation rates.
For a three-dimensional droplet with concentration jump , constant mobility , and quasi-static exterior chemical potential,
The first formula solves the exterior Laplace equation. The second follows from conservation: the total outward flux removes excess composition at the rate . For a symmetric mixture, and the Gibbs--Thomson relation gives .
For two incompressible inviscid layers at rest between rigid horizontal boundaries, with the heavier fluid below and no surface tension, the displayed dispersion relation follows from Laplace equation for the velocity potentials, no normal flow at the walls, equal normal velocities at the interface, and pressure continuity. The positive density contrast supplies the restoring force. In the long-wave limit the squared wave speed is .
Finite-depth Rayleigh-Taylor dispersion relation Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For two resting incompressible inviscid layers between impermeable horizontal walls, the upper layer has density and depth , and the lower layer has and depth . Solving the Laplace equation for the velocity potential and imposing the linearized kinematic and capillary pressure conditions gives the displayed dispersion relation. With positive surface tension , exponential Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurs for , where . The depths change the growth rate, but not this cutoff.
Modified Helmholtz equation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The modified Helmholtz equation is
It reduces to the Laplace equation when .
For smooth spatial and , the only nonzero Christoffel symbols are and . Consequently the Levi-Civita connection converges smoothly on compact sets as although the metric itself diverges in these coordinates. The limiting torsion-free connection has only and gives when is an affine parameter. With , its Ricci tensor is : quadratic connection terms vanish and . Thus zero Ricci tensor is the Laplace equation, while full flatness would require the entire Hessian to vanish.