10 2 / HM PH 1 02 / HSST 102

HIPH

T RICIT Y AND M AGNETISM

ELEC

F CHINGORIWO

D A P P LI E D P HY S ICS DEPARTMENT
SPACE SCIENCE A N

ROOM 103 NEW WING

ftchingoriwo@gmail.com
.ac.zw
fchingoriwo@science.uz
Recap: Lecture #2
Gauss’ law
 Electric Flux
The electric flux [Phi] through a surface is defined as the product of the area A and the magnitude of the
normal component of the electric field E: Ф

The electric flux is a Scalar, being the scalar product of two vectors. Since E is measured in , the
unit of flux is
The number of the lines of force crossing any surface depends on three factors – the field strength, E, the
surface area, S and the orientation of the surface relative to the electric field.

To specify the orientation of the surface, S we draw a

perpendicular to the surface. If q is the angle between the
electric field and the perpendicular , then the number of
lines of force passing through the surface ranges from
maximum to minimum depending on q.

That is when q = 0; the number of lines of force crossing

the surface is maximum
When q= , the number of lines of force crossing the
surface is zero.

What is the flux that we find integrating over the total surface? With our intuitive interpretation, the answer
is obvious: Φ = 0 . Why? Just as many field lines enter the surface as leave it!
 Charge and electric flux

Positive charge within the box produces outward electric flux through the surface of the box, and negative charge
produces inward flux.
 What affects the flux through a box?

doubling the charge within the box doubles the flux, but doubling the size of the box does
not change the flux.
Flux through surfaces near a dipole
Evaluate flux through a disk.
For certain charge distributions involving symmetry,we can save far more work by
using a law called Gauss’ law, developed by German mathematician and physicist
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855).
Instead of considering the fields of dE charge elements in a given charge distribution,
Gauss’ law considers a hypothetical (imaginary) closed surface enclosing the charge
distribution.

This Gaussian surface, as it is called, can have any shape, but the shape that
minimizes our calculations of the electric field is one that mimics the symmetry of the
charge distribution.

The electric field of a given charge distribution can in principle be calculated using
Coulomb's law. The examples showed however, that the actual calculations can
become quit complicated.
 Gauss' law states that
" If the volume within an arbitrary closed mathematical surface holds a net electric charge Q, then the
electric flux [Phi] though its surface is Q/[epsilon]“

Gauss’s law expresses the relation between an electric charge and the electric field that it sets up. It is a
consequence of Coulomb’s law. Although it contains no additional information, its mathematical form enables us
to solve many problems of electric field calculation far more conveniently than through the use of Coulomb’s
law.
To apply
Gauss' law one has to obtain the flux through a closed surface. This flux can be obtained by integrating
over all the area of the surface.

The convention used to define the flux as positive or negative is that the angle [theta] is measured with respect to
the perpendicular erected on the outside of the closed surface: field lines
leaving the volume make a positive contribution, and field lines entering the volume make a negative
contribution.

Gauss’ law relates the electric fields at points on a (closed) Gaussian surface to the net charge enclosed by that
surface.

We can also use Gauss’ law in reverse: If we know the electric field on a Gaussian surface, we can find the net
charge enclosed by the surface. For the electric field vectors of a sphere , they all point radially outward from the
center of the sphere and have equal magnitude. Gauss’ law immediately tells us that the spherical surface must
enclose a net positive charge that is either a particle or distributed spherically.
 Application of Gauss’s Law

Gauss’s law applies to any hypothetical closed surface (called a Gaussian surface ) and enclosing a charge
distribution. However, the evaluation of the surface integral becomes simple only when the charge distribution
has sufficient symmetry.

In such situation, Gauss’s law allows us to calculate the electric field far more easily than we could using
Coulomb’s law. Since gauss’s law is valid for an arbitrary closed surface, we will use this freedom to choose a
surface having the same symmetry as that of the charge distribution to evaluate the surface integral.

We shall now illustrate the use of Gauss’s law for some important symmetries.
 Spherical Symmetry

A charge distribution is spherically symmetric if the charge density (that is,the charge per unit volume) at any
point depends only on the distance of the point from a central point (called centre of symmetry) and not on the
direction

Figure above represents a spherically symmetric distribution of charge such that the charge density is high at the
centre and zero beyond r
The flux through the sphere is
independent of the size of the
sphere and depends only on the
charge inside.
Positive and negative flux
 Spherical symmetry of charge distribution implies that the magnitude of electric field also depends on the
distance r from the centre of symmetry. In such a situation, the only possible direction of the field consistent
with the symmetry is the redial direction – outward for a positive charge and inward for a negative charge.

Example of spherically symmetric charge distributions are:

(i) a point charge
(ii) a uniformly charged sphere, and
(iii) a uniformly charged thin spherical shell
 Example 1: Field of point charge.

The field generated by a point charge q is spherical symmetric, and its magnitude will depend only on the
distance r from the point charge. The direction of the field is along the direction .If we consider a
spherical surface centered around the point charge q. The direction of the electric field at any
point on its surface is perpendicular to the surface and its magnitude is constant. This implies that the electric
flux [Phi] through this surface is given by
Using Gauss's law we obtain the following expression

Or

Which is Coulomb’ s law

We can now see that Gauss’s law and Coulomb’s law are not two independent physical laws but the same law
expressed in different ways
The figure below shows a closed surface S in the form of a cylinder of radius R situated in a
uniform electric field F, the axis of the cylinder being parallel to the field. What is the flux φ of
the electric field through this closed surface?
We can write the total electric flux through the surface S as the sum of three terms, an integral over the
surface, i.e the left cylinder cap. , the cylinder surface, and , the right cap.
Ф

For the left cap, angle q for all points is , E is constant, and all the vectors dS are parallel.

Therefore
Since the area of the cap is Similarly, for the right hand cap

Since the angle q = 0 for all points on the cap.

Finally, for the surface

We can now sum up the total flux through the cylindrical surface S as
.

Therefore, the total outward flux of the electric field through the closed surface of figure 3.2 is zero.
 Conductors in Electric Fields
A large number of electrons in a conductor are free to move. The so called free electrons are the cause of the
different behavior of conductors and insulators in an external electric filed. The free electrons in a conductor will
move under the influence of the external electric field (in a direction opposite to the direction of the electric
field).

The movement of the free electrons will produce an excess of electrons (negative charge) on one side of
the conductor, leaving a deficit of electrons (positive charge) on the other side.
•At equilibrium E = 0 everywhere inside a conductor
•Charge flows until E = 0 at every interior point

When static equilibrium is reached,

the net electric field inside the conductor is exactly zero

 This implies that the charge density inside the conductor is zero. If the electric field inside the conductor would not
be exactly zero the free electrons would continue to move and the charge distribution would not be in static
equilibrium. The electric field on the surface of the conductor is perpendicular to its surface. If this would not be the
case, the free electrons would move along the surface, and the charge distribution would not be in equilibrium. The
redistribution of the free electrons in the conductor under the influence of an external electric field, and the
cancellation of the external electric field inside the conductor is being used to shield sensitive instruments from
external electric fields.

The only place where un-screened charge can end up is on the outside surface of the conductor
•E at the surface is everywhere normal to it; if E had a component parallel to the surface, charges would move to
screen it out.
Gauss’s Law: net charge on an isolated conductor......moves to the outside surface
Charge inside a conducting spherical shell
 Line Symmetry

A charge distribution has cylindrical symmetry when it is infinity long and has a charge density that depends only on the
perpendicular distance from a line called symmetry axis

By symmetry, the electric field will point radially outward from the axis
and its magnitude will depend only on the perpendicular distance from
the axis.
(We assume positive charge, for negative charge the field points
inward). Let us find expression for the electric field, E at a distance r
from the line charge (say a wire).
We draw a Gaussian surface which is a circular cylindrical of radius r
and length l closed at each end by plane caps normal to the axis as
shown

electric field due to a charged wire or cylinder does not depend upon
its radius. In effect, the field behaves as if the charge on the wire or
cylinder were concentrated in a line along its axis.
•Cylindrical symmetry around z-axis
•Uniform charge per unit length l
•Every point on the infinite line has the identical surroundings, so….
•E is radial, by symmetry
•E has the same value everywhere on any concentric cylindrical
surface
•Flux through end caps = 0 as E is perpendicular to dA
•Eon cylinder is parallel to unit vector for DA

.No integration needed now due to Gauss Law

•Good approximation for finite line of
charge when r << L, far from the ends.
 Plane Symmetry
When the charge density depends only on the perpendicular distance from a plane, the charge
distribution is said to have plane symmetry. The electric field is everywhere normal to the plane sheet as
shown, pointing outward, if positively charged and inward, if negatively charged.

To find the electric field at a distance in front of the plane sheet, it is required to
construct a Gaussian surface. A convenient Gaussian surface is a closed
cylinder of cross-sectional area S and length 2r. The sides of the Gaussian
surface are perpendicular to the symmetry plane and the ends of the surface are
parallel to it. Since no lines of force cross the sides, the flux through the sides is
zero. But the lines of force cross perpendicular to the ends, so that E and the
area element vector ds on the ends are parallel. The cos q in the product E.ds is
1 over both ends (-1 if charge is negative).
Electric field near an infinite non-conducting sheet of charge –using Gauss Law

Cylindrical Gaussian Surface penetrating sheet

(rectangular OK too)
•Uniform positive charge per unit area S
•E has same value when chosen point moves parallel to the
surface
•Epoints radially away from the sheet (both sides),
•Eis perpendicular to cylindrical part of surface
Flux through it = 0
•On both end caps E is parallel to A

so F= + EAcap on each

Uniform field –independent of distance from sheet

•Same as earlier result but no integration needed now
•Good approximation for finite sheet when r << L, far from
edges.
 Electric field near an infinite conducting sheet of charge

•Uniform charge per unit area s on one face

•Use cylindrical or rectangular Gaussian surface
•End caps just outside and just inside (E = 0)
•E points radially away from sheet outside otherwise current flows (!!)
•Flux through the cylindrical tube = 0 Enormal to surface
•On left cap (inside conductor) E = 0 so F= 0
•On right cap Eis parallel to DA so F = Eacap

Field is twice that for a non-conducting sheet with sames

•Same enclosed charge, same total flux now “squeezed” out the right hand cap,
not both
•Otherwise like previous result: uniform, no r dependence, etc.
Charge on a finite sized conducting plate in isolation

•E = 0 inside the conductor

•Charge density s1 is the same on both faces, o/w charges will move to make E =
0 inside
•Cylindrical Gaussian surfaces S, S’
•S charges distribute on surfaces

•
Same field magnitude on opposite sides, opposite directions
•Same field by replacing each conductor by 2 charged non-conducting sheets
alone:
•cancellation inside conductor
•reinforcement outside
Electric field near oppositely charged conducting plates (large, but not infinite)
Charge moves by induction to keep E = 0 inside each conductor
•Field between plates remains uniform
•Flux through Gaussian surface S = 0, so s-= -s+
•Using either S’, Qenc= 0 so E = 0 outside
•So the charge density = 0 on the outer faces,
•All the net charge density must move to the inner surfaces
•Using either surface S’’:

Fields everywhere would be the same if charge distributions were

there w/o the conductors
Proof of shell theorem using Gauss’ law (Spherical Symmetry)
What is the strength of the electric field at point P
(green dot)?
The horizontal and vertical scales of the grid
are 1.0nm per grid step.The two charges are the
same: q1 = q2 = -2.5⨯ C