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Mathematically, we can state the law of charge conservation as a continuity equation: = ˙ ˙ (). where / is the electric charge accumulation rate in a specific volume at time t, ˙ is the amount of charge flowing into the volume and ˙ is the amount of charge flowing out of the volume; both amounts are regarded as generic functions of time.
In continuum mechanics, the most general form of an exact conservation law is given by a continuity equation. For example, conservation of electric charge q is = where ∇⋅ is the divergence operator, ρ is the density of q (amount per unit volume), j is the flux of q (amount crossing a unit area in unit time), and t is time.
The continuity equation says that if charge is moving out of a differential volume (i.e., divergence of current density is positive) then the amount of charge within that volume is going to decrease, so the rate of change of charge density is negative. Therefore, the continuity equation amounts to a conservation of charge.
Kirchhoff's circuit laws were originally obtained from experimental results. However, the current law can be viewed as an extension of the conservation of charge, since charge is the product of current and the time the current has been flowing. If the net charge in a region is constant, the current law will hold on the boundaries of the region.
In physics a conserved current is a current, , that satisfies the continuity equation =.The continuity equation represents a conservation law, hence the name. Indeed, integrating the continuity equation over a volume , large enough to have no net currents through its surface, leads to the conservation law =, where = is the conserved quantity.
The law of conservation of charge always applies, giving the object from which a negative charge is taken a positive charge of the same magnitude, and vice versa. Even when an object's net charge is zero, the charge can be distributed non-uniformly in the object (e.g., due to an external electromagnetic field, or bound polar
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where: is the rate of change of the energy density in the volume. ∇•S is the energy flow out of the volume, given by the divergence of the Poynting vector S. J•E is the rate at which the fields do work on charges in the volume (J is the current density corresponding to the motion of charge, E is the electric field, and • is the dot product).