ELECTRIC FLUX & GAUSS

LAW
Presented by
Contents

Ø Electric field
Ø Coulomb’s law
Ø Electric field intensity Ø
Electric flux
Ø Gauss’law
COULOMB’S LAW

Ø It states that the electrical force between between two

stationary charged points is directly proportional to the
product of the quantity of two charges and inversely
proportional to the square of seperation between them.

Ø The force between the

two charges always acts
along a straight line
joining the two charges.
 ELECTRIC FIELD

Ø An electric field is a field or space around an electrically

charged object where any other electrically charged object will
experience a force
Ø The charge creates
eletric field in space
itself.
Ø Electric field lines
are usually considered
to start on positive electric
charges and to end on
negative charges.
 INTENSITY OF ELECTRIC FIELD

Ø It is defined as the force experienced by a unit positive

charge

Ø It is a vector quantity,its direction is same as force direction.

Ø Units of electric field is N/C

ELECTRIC FLUX
Ø Electric flux is the rate of flow of the electric field lines
through a given area in the direction of normal
to the surface.
Ø The electric flux through a
surface is defined as the inner
product of the electric field
and suface vector
Φ=E⋅S
Ø The surface is uniform,
the electric flux passing
through a surface of vector
area S is Φ=E⋅S=EScosθ
Ø For anon-uniform electric field, the electric flux dΦ through a
small surface area dS is given by dΦ=E⋅dS

Ø Φ=∫E⋅dS =EAcosθ

∫ds= surface area

Where E is magnitude of electric field
A is area of surface
θ is angle between the electric field lines and normal
to surface

Ø The total flux depends on the strength of

electric field, size of the surface it passes through and
their orientation.
Introduction about Gauss’s law
Ø Gauss’s law was formulated by German scientist Carl friedrich
Gauss in1835,but was not published until 1867.

Ø Gauss’s law relating distribution of electric

charge to the resulting electric field.

Ø Gauss’s law is also known as Gauss’s flux

theorem and Maxwell’s first equation
GAUSS’S LAW
DEFINITION
Ø It states that the normal component of electric field over
any closed surface of any shape drawn in an electric field is 1/ϵ
times of the total charge Q enclosed within the surface.
Φ=∫E⋅dS =(1/ϵ)Q
where ϵ is permittivity of the free space
Ø To calculate the electric field distribution in a closed surface, we
need to understand the concept of Gauss law.

GAUSS’S THEOREM
Ø The net flux through a closed surface is directly proportional to the
net charge in the volume enclosed by the closed surface
Φ=(1/ϵ)Q
Proof of Gauss’s Theorem
Case(i) when the charge is within the surface

Ø Let a point charge +q coulombs be placed at o within a closed

surface of irregular shape

Ø Consider a point p on the surface at a distance r from o

Ø Take a small area ds around p, θ

be the angle between Normal
to the surface ds and E

Ø The electric flux dΦ outwards

through the area ds is given by
dΦ=E⋅dS=E dScosθ 1
Ø From coulomb’s law,the electric field intensity E at a point p distance r
from a point charga Q is given by

Ø From (1)and (2) we get

but is is the solid angle subtended by ds at O

 The total flux over the entire surface is given by

Where is the solid angle subtended by the whole surface atO

Where Q is enclosed charge in the surface

ϵ is permittivity of free space
ϵ = 8.8542 x 10-12
Case(ii) when the charge is outside the surface

Ø Let a point charge +Q be situated at point outside the closed

surface .

Ø Net number of electric field

lines passing through the two
surfaces from the inside to
outside direction is equal
Ø No charges are included within a
closed surface, then the
electric flux through it must be zero
Φ=0
UNDERSTANDINGS OF GAUSS’S LAW

Ø Gauss’s is just flux calculation

Ø Gauss’s law is applies to only closed surfaces called gaussian

surfaces

Ø Gauss’s law directly relates electric flux to the charge

distribution that creates it.

Ø Gauss’s law can be used to derive the coulomb’s law and vice
versa