PHYS 1000/33/38: C-DIAGONAL

Chapter 24: Gauss’ Law

(Block 3, Week 6, 21 Aug)

WEEK 6 – Chapter 24: Gauss’ Law
CHAPTER 24
Gauss’ Law
 24.1
Electric field lines
 ELECTRIC FIELDS

Electric Field & Electric Force

• The direction of the electric field is equal to the direction of

the force exerted on a positive charge placed in the field

0 0

0 0
 ELECTRIC FIELDS
Electric Field Lines
• Electric field represented by field lines, indicating its direction
• The lines start on a pos. charge & end on a neg. charge.
• Magnitude of field ∝ density of lines
 24.1 Summary
Electric field lines are drawn so that at any
point the electric field is tangent to them.

# of field lines proportional to

charge carried by the object.

Electric field lines – visualize E

around any charge distribution
Vector field diagram – @ many points in space
indicates E @ single
point
24.1 Summary

At each point, the

field line points in the
direction of the
electric force.
Kind of an analogy

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Xy6H0mr3KXw
~0.38s
 24.1 Qu 4

Both indicate that twice as many field lines emanate from

the first object as those that terminate on the second object.
Both representations are correct.
24.1 Qu 8
 24.2
Field line density
 24.2 Summary

Field line density @ position = @ each position,

# field lines per unit area ⊥ to mag. E 𝛼 field line density.
field lines
 FLUX
What is Flux?
• Measure of the number of field lines passing through a
surface
Loop

𝑨
𝑬 𝑬
𝑨

Max. flux Min. flux

 FLUX
Mathematical Description
• # of lines passing through 𝐴! is proportional to E and the
area A of the surface. i.e.: N ∝ EA

Φ! = 𝐸" 𝐴 = 𝐸𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃

Φ! = 𝐸𝐴 Φ! = 𝐸𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
 FLUX
What is Flux?
• Measure of the number of field lines passing through a
surface

Max. flux Min. flux

° °
Φ! = 𝐸𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠0 = 𝐸𝐴 Φ! = 𝐸𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠90 = 0
24.2 Qu 16
24.2 Qu 16 Much simpler approach

60°
24.2 Qu 20

(a) Greatest E occurs where field

lines are most dense = A

(b) Smallest E occurs where field

lines are least dense = C
 24.3
Closed surfaces
24.3 Summary
Field line flux for closed
surface = # of outward
field lines crossing surface
minus # of inward field
lines crossing surface.

• # of field lines that cross

closed surface α to size of
the source charge(s)
enclosed by the surface.
 24.3 Summary
E lines point either inward or outward depending on the sign of enclosed charge.
We assign a value of 1 to each outward field line crossing the surface and a value
of −1 to each inward field line crossing the surface

Field line flux through closed surface due to charged objects outside is always zero

→ If we know field line flux through a closed surface, we can determine

the charge enclosed by that surface, regardless of the distribution of
charge outside the surface – form of Gauss’ Law
24.3 Qu 29
24.3 Qu 30
(a) Field line flux = 0 Field line flux =
(# outward - # inward) field lines
2 1 1 2
3 3 (c) Field line flux = -16
4 4
5 5
6 6
78 7
9 9 8

(b) Field line flux = +16

(d) Field line flux = +3

Not possible
 24.4
Symmetry and Gaussian surfaces
24.4 Summary
• Choice of surface is dictated by
symmetry of the situation.

• As a rule of thumb, we choose a

surface such that the electric field is
the same (and possibly zero)
everywhere along as many regions of
the surface as possible.
 24.4 Summary
How field line
density
decreases &
consequently E
For these 3 symmetries, we can calculate the electric field due to the charge
distribution directly using Gauss’s law.

Infinitely long, cylindrical rod Infinite flat sheet invariant

Sphere unchanged if
invariant to rotation & to rotation about ⊥ axis &
rotated about any axis
translation about long axis translation along axes ⊥ to
→ spherical symmetry
→ cylindrical symmetry this axis → planar symmetry
24.4 Qu 35
24.4 Qu 39
 Spherically symmetric
∴ can be considered as a point charge
 24.5
Charged conducting objects
24.5 Summary

Conducting materials contain

carrier carriers that are free to
move through bulk material.
Charge carriers arrange
themselves so as to make the
electric field inside the material
zero → electrostatic equilibrium.
 24.5 Summary

Electric field inside conducting object that is in electrostatic equilibrium is

zero.

Electrostatic equilibrium → condition in which the distribution of charge in a

system does not change
24.5 Summary

Any surplus charge placed on an

isolated conducting object
arranges itself at the surface of
the object. No surplus charge
remains in the body of the
conducting object once it has
reached electrostatic equilibrium.
1. E = 0 inside material (because particles will always
arrange themselves in such a way to make E inside bulk = 0),
Charge on surface
∴ equal amount of opp. charge must accumulate
somewhere else on sphere.
2. Draw GS1 around cavity. Since E here is 0, field
line flux & consequently charge must be 0.
∴ a charge of –q must have migrated in the region
around the cavity & accumulated on the cavity
surface.
3. Migration of –q leaves +q somewhere on sphere
& since field line flux through GS2 = 0, the +q
charge must sit on the sphere.
 24.6
Electric flux
24.6 Summary
24.6 Summary

Field line flux quantified by ΦE (Electric flux)

Mag. ΦE through area A

in uniform electric field
24.6 Summary

When surface is irregular, divide it

into small segments of area 𝛿𝐴!
and calc. Φ" through each segment,
Φ"! = 𝐸! . 𝛿𝐴!

∴ through entire surface

Φ"! = * 𝐸! . 𝛿𝐴!

To simplify calc., exploit

symmetry of system
24.6 Qu 57
24.6 Qu 58
 24.7
Deriving Gauss’ law
 24.7 Summary

𝜖" electric/ permittivity constant

#
𝜖" = = 8.85×10'#( C2N-1m-2
$%&

Flux of E out of arb. closed

surface α charge enclosed
by surface, irrespective of
how charge is distributed
Qualitative form of Gauss’s law (24.3):
• The field line flux through a closed surface is directly proportional to the charge
enclosed by a Gaussian surface, regardless of the distribution of charge outside
the surface.
24.7 Summary
24.7 Qu 69
 24.8
Applying Gauss’ law
 24.8 Summary

Gauss’s law allows you to calculate the electric field for charge
distributions that exhibit spherical, cylindrical, or planar symmetry
without having to carry out any integrations.
24.8 Summary
 24.8 Summary

Procedure: Calculating the electric field using Gauss’s Law

1. Identify symmetry of charge distribution.

Indicates pattern of E and type of GS to use.

2. Sketch charge distribution & E by drawing a number of field lines.

3. Draw GS such that E is either ∥ or ⊥ to each face of the surface.

4. For each GS determine the charge, qenc, enclosed by surface.

5. For each GS calculate electric flux ΦE through surface.

Express the ΦE in terms of the unknown E.

6. Use Gauss’s law (Eq. 24.8) to relate qenc, and ΦE and solve for E.
24.8 Summary
24.8 Summary

• For a conducting plate, using

the Gaussian surface on the
right we obtain: E = s .
Î0
24.8 Qu 73
24.8 Qu 73