Chapter 22

Gauss’ law
and more electrostatics problems

Lecture 4 - Monday, May 17, 2021

 Outline

• The Flux of the electric field

• Gauss’s law
• Applications
Flux of the electric field
 Flux of the electric field
For
  electrostatic field, the flux of the electric field through a surface A is
defined as
❑
 
𝐸 ⋅ 𝑑 𝑆⃗
Φ=∫ ⃗
𝐴
•  This is a surface integral.
• is a small element of the surface. As a vector it has a direction.
•  The direction of is the direction perpendicular to the surface. For a curved
surface the direction of varies from element to element.

𝑑  ⃗𝑆 = 𝑛^ 𝑑𝑆
•  is the unit vector normal to the
surface.
 Flux of the electric field
If the electric field is constant across the surface, then the flux can be calculated as

Φ=
  𝐸 ⋅ ⃗𝑆 =𝐸𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃
⃗

•  is the angle between the electric field and the normal to the surface(the
angle between ).

⃗𝐸  • The flux is maximum when the surface

𝑛^  is perpendicular to the electric field
• The flux is zero when the surface is
parallel to the field.
 Note about the notion of
Flux
• The notion of flux may be related, in general, to the flow of fluids or energy
• For example, the flux measures how much fluid goes through the unit cross
section area of a pipe, in unit time.
• Or, in the case of light, how much power is transferred through the unit area
perpendicular to the propagation direction.

• The flux used in electromagnetism is defined in a different way, is a

different type of quantity.
• However you can still visualize the electric flux as the “flow” of electric
lines through a surface. More lines per unit area means stronger electric
field and so, larger flux.
 Flux through a closed surface
For a closed surface, will be useful to define the direction of the normal to
the surface in such a way that the flux is positive if the field lines exit the
surface and negative if the field lines enter the surface.

𝑛^  𝑛^ 

If    is defined as pointing towards the outside region of the surface (and, of course,
perpendicular to the surface), then
• The contribution to the flux is positive w exits the surface
• The contribution to the flux is negative w enters the surface
 Gauss’ Law
The flux of the electric field through a closed surface is proportional to the
charge enclosed by the surface.

In SI units we have

  𝑞
Φ closed surface = Gauss’ law
𝜖0

As long as the surface contains the same amount of charge

• It does not matter how the charge is distributed inside the surface
• It does not matter the shape of the surface
• It does not matter the size of the surface
• It does not matter what charges are outside the surface

It’s almost like magic, isn’t it?.

 When is Gauss’ law useful?
Gauss’s law is always valid.

However it is useful as a tool for solving problems quickly

• when the problem has some sort of symmetry which allows to
“guess” the direction of the electric field beforehand
• when there are obvious surfaces on which the electric field has a
constant value (due to the same symmetry) .

Trivial example: Point charge

• The field has to be radial
• The field depends only on the distance from the charge so it has
the same value on any sphere centered on the charge.
 Application of Gauss’ law
Point Charge

The
  normal to the surface is along the radius and pointing away from the center.
• Positive charge: in the same direction, the flux is positive
• Negative charge: in opposite directions, the flux is negative

To calculate the field, we take a spherical surface (“we choose a

spherical Gaussian surface”).

For positive charge:

Gauss’ law:   ( 4 𝜋 𝑟 2 )= 𝑞
𝐸   𝑞
𝜖0 𝐸(𝑟 )=
4 𝜋𝜖 0 𝑟 2

We found the result we already found from Coulomb’s law.

 Less trivial example
Field near the surface of a charged conductor

Given:
 
1. The field at the surface is perpendicular to the surface (conductor).
2. The field inside the conductor is zero.
3. All the charge is on the surface, charge density is
 Less trivial example
Field near the surface of a charged conductor

Procedure:
1. We consider a small closed surface like a little
rectangular box (can be cylindrical too).
2. The height of the box can be taken to be very small.
3. Flux through the box is the sum of fluxes through each
side of the box.
4. Flux through the bottom is zero because E=0
5. Flux through the vertical sides is zero because E is
parallel to the surface.
6. The only contribution to the flux if from the top
surface.

𝑞 𝜎𝐴
 
Φ= 𝐸𝐴 = =  𝐸 = 𝜎
𝜖0 𝜖0 𝜖0