Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2005 Paper 2 2 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Write . For , direct Cartesian differentiation gives the divergence and curl of a radial vector field:The volume element in spherical coordinates therefore gives, for ,For the direct surface integral, the outer sphere has outward normal and contributes . The inner boundary's outward normal relative to the shell is , so it contributes . HenceFor , the field has zero ordinary divergence everywhere in this shell. The separate surface contributions are and , so both full integrals are zero. This radial power-law flux through a spherical shell was obtained by direct differentiation and integration; the excluded origin is never part of the volume.