Velocity potential

Imagine you are in a boat on a calm lake. When you row your boat, the oars create waves that spread out on the surface of the water. These waves show that the boat is moving and creating a disturbance in the water.

Now, let's imagine that instead of a boat, we have something called a fluid. A fluid is a type of material that can flow, like air or water. Imagine we have a flow of fluid, like a river. When the fluid flows, it also creates a disturbance, just like the waves in the lake.

So, scientists want to understand the flow of the fluid and the disturbance it creates. They use something called a velocity potential to help them do this.

A velocity potential is like a recipe or a map that helps us understand the movement of the fluid. It tells us how the fluid flows and changes over time. This helps us predict how the fluid will move in the future.

For example, let's say we want to know how fast the water in the river is moving. We can use a velocity potential to help us calculate this. It tells us how fast the water is moving at every point in the river, so we can get a better idea of what the flow looks like.

So, in summary, a velocity potential is like a recipe or a map that helps us understand the flow of fluids, like water or air. It tells us how the fluid moves and changes over time, so we can predict what it will do in the future.