The superposition principle is widely invoked in physics. However, the student should bear in mind that its validity implies that the system under focus is governed by linear equations. Such a condition is usually fulfilled in electromagnetism, but not in fluid dynamics, where the governing equations are generally non-linear ones. Nevertheless, such equations become linear in an important particular case, which applies even to time dependent situations. Our aim in this pedagogical article is to explore the analogies of such a case with electromagnetism. We believe that this approach can make easier to introduce fluid dynamics to a typical student, generally not acquainted at all with the principles of this branch of increasing importance in physics. We emphasize the plot of streamlines by making use of computational graphical tools which hopefully helps to clarify the proposed pedagogical strategy.
fluid dynamics; electromagnetic analogies
