Page:Philosophical magazine 21 series 4.djvu/308

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284
Prof. Maxwell on the Theory of Molecular Vortices

If this portion of the surface be in contact with another vortex whose velocities are , then a layer of very small particles placed between them will have a velocity which will be the mean of the superficial velocities of the vortices which they separate, so that if is the velocity of the particles in the direction of ,

(27)

since the normal to the second vortex is in the opposite direction to that of the first.

Prop. V.— To determine the whole amount of particles transferred across unit of area in the direction of in unit of time.

Let be the coordinates of the centre of the first vortex, those of the second, and so on. Let , &c. be the volumes of the first, second, &c. vortices, and the sum of their volumes. Let be an element of the surface separating the first and second vortices, and x, y, z its coordinates. Let be the quantity of particles on every unit of surface. Then if be the whole quantity of particles transferred across unit of area in unit of time in the direction of , the whole momentum parallel to of the particles within the space whose volume is will be , and we shall have

(28)

the summation being extended to every surface separating any two vortices within the volume .

Let us consider the surface separating the first and second vortices. Let an element of this surface be , and let its direction-cosines be with respect to the first vortex, and with respect to the second; then we know that

(29)

The values of vary with the position of the centre of the vortex; so that we may write

(30)

with similar equations for and .

The value of may be written:—