Potentials

Potentials

Functions or sets of functions from whose first derivatives a vector can be formed. A vector is a quantity which has a magnitude and a direction, such as force.

A single function, the scalar potential, is used in gravitation theory, electricity and magnetism, fluid mechanics, and other areas. The vectors obtained from it by partial differentiation are in these cases the gravitational, electric and magnetic field strengths, and the velocity, respectively. The vector potential is a set of three functions whose first derivatives give the magnetic induction. See Electric field, Gravitation, Laplace's irrotational motion