The time dependent form of the Nernst–Planck equation is a conservation of mass equation used to describe the motion of a charged chemical species in a fluid medium. It describes the flux of ions under the influence of both an ionic concentration gradient ∇c and an electric field E = −∇φ −∂A/∂t. It extends Fick's law of diffusion for the case where the diffusing particles are also moved with respect to the fluid by electrostatic forces: Where Integrating the divergence over an arbitrary surface, one obtains the steady state Nernst–Planck equation where F is the Faraday constant equal to NAe.