23.3 - 23.

4 – Gauss’s Law
 
Electric flux through a Gaussian surface:  E   E  dAGS   E  dAGS  cos 
 
 = angle between E and AGS .

AGS = surface area vector of the Gaussian surface.
AGS = the area of the Gaussian surface
n̂ = unit vector that is normal to the surface and points outward from the interior.

For a spherical Gaussian surface with a point charge at its center,   0 .

kq
Also, E  e2 is constant over the surface.
r

 E  Er  dAGS  Er AGS  Er 4 r 2 for a spherically symmetric charge distribution

ke q k q
Use Er  2
to obtain  E   e2 4 r 2  4ke q .
r  r 

Coulomb’s constant is related to the electric permittivity of vacuum,  0 .

1 N  m2
0  where k e  8.99  10 9 .
4k e C2
C2
 0  8.85  0 12
N  m2

  Qinside GS
Gauss’s Law:  E   E  dA 
0

Example 3
Spherical symmetry:  E  Er 4 r 2 , where r is the radius of the Gaussian sphere

A.
Q Q Q  kQ
For r > a,  E   Er 4 r 2   Er   E  e 2 rˆ
0 0 4 0 r 2
r
** The electric field outside a uniform spherical charge distribution is the same as the electric
field of an equivalent point charge at the center of the sphere.

B.
 r 
For r < a, E  r
3 0
Example 4

Cylindrical symmetry:  E  Er 2 r , where r is the radius and  the length of the GS cylinder


Er  for infinitely long line of charge.
2 0 r

 2k Q
Compare to E  e ˆj derived in 23.1
y
Q 1   ˆ
Use   and ke  to write E  j . This matches result obtained from Gauss’s law.
 4 0 2 0 y

Example 5
Planar symmetry:  E  2 EAGS cylinder cap


E for an infinitely large plane of charge.
2 0

Compare to E  2ke iˆ derived in 23.1

1  
Use ke  to write E  iˆ . This matches result obtained from Gauss’s law.
4 0 2 0

4
V   r3 
3
dV 4 d 3 4
 
dr 3 dr 3
   
r   3 r 2  4 r 2  dV  4 r 2 dr