Past exam of the options I course of the University of Oxford / 2007 / K / K1 / ii / Solution

Take the curl. A gradient has zero curl, and the supplied identity, with $\nabla \cdot u=0$ and $\nabla \cdot \omega =\nabla \cdot (\nabla \times u)=0$, givesTherefore $D\omega /Dt=(\omega \cdot \nabla )u$. In planar flow $\omega =(0,0,{\partial }_{x}v-{\partial }_{y}u)$ and ${\partial }_{z}u=0$, so the stretching term vanishes. ConsequentlyVorticity is carried unchanged with each fluid particle. It need not be spatially uniform or independent of time at a fixed spatial point.