Chapter 22

Gausss Law

Goals for Chapter 22

To use the electric field at a surface to determine the
charge within the surface.
To learn the meaning of electric flux and how to
calculate it.
To learn the relationship between the electric flux
through a surface and the charge within the surface.
To use Gausss law to calculate electric fields.
To learn where the charge on a conductor is located.

Introduction
Would the girls hair
stand on end if she were
inside the metal sphere?
Symmetry properties
play an important role in
physics.
Gausss law will allow us
to do electric-field
calculations using
symmetry principles.

The Big Picture

Gauss'lawforelectricity
Gauss'lawformagnetism
Faraday'slawofinduction
Ampere'slaw
LorentzForcelaw

Introduction

Zero net charge inside a box

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?

A HUMOROUS CHARGE
ABuddhistmonkapproachesahotdogvendor
andtellshim:"Makemeonewitheverything".
Themonkthengivesthevendora$5billfor
the$2hotdog.Afterwaitingforafew
moments,heasksforchange.
TheBuddhisthotdogvendorreplies,"ah,but
changecomesfromwithin.

Electric Flux

ThemagnitudeisAandthedirectionis
directedperpendiculartothearealike
aforcenormal.

Flux(orFLOW)isageneraltermassociatedwithaFIELDthatisboundbya
certainAREA.SoELECTRICFLUXisanyAREAthathasaELECTRICFIELD
passingthroughit.
Wegenerallydefinean AREA vectorasonethatisperpendiculartothe
surfaceofthematerial.
Therefore,youcanseeinthe figure thattheAREAvectorandtheElectric
FieldvectorarePARALLEL.ThisthenproducesaDOTPRODUCT
betweenthe2variablesthatthendefineflux.

Calculating electric flux

Electric flux through a disk

A disk of radiusis oriented with its normal unit vector n atto a uniform

electric fieldof magnitude. Since this isnt a closed surface, it has no

insideoroutside.Thatswhywehavetospecifythedirectionof.(a)
Whatistheelectricfluxthroughthedisk?(b)Whatisthefluxthrough
the disk if it is turned so thatis perpendicular to? (c) What is the flux
throughthediskifisparallelto?

Electric flux through a cube

TheFirstSurfaceis:

Electric flux through a cube

TheFirstSurfaceis:

Gausss Law
Gausss law is an alternative to
Coulombs law and is completely
equivalent to it.
Carl Friedrich Gauss formulated
this law. We will use the form:

Given the Electric field we can find

the charge
Given the Charge we can find the
electric field!

"ThisisGauss'sLaw.Itisvery
powerful...butitdoesn'tworkin
general

Electric flux through a sphere

State Gausss Law.

Derive Coulomb's Electric

Field.

Point charge centered in a spherical surface

The flux through the sphere

is independent of the size of
the sphere and depends
only on the charge inside.

The area goes as 4R2

But the Field goes as 1/ 4R2
So the product of A and E is
a constant =

Gausss Law most general form (multiple charges)

Rules for using Gausss Law

1. ChoseaSurfacesuchthattheelectricfield
vectorandtheareavectorareeitherparallelor
anti-parallel.
2. Choseasurfacesuchthattheelectricfieldis
constanteverywhereonthesurface.
3. Makesureyouknowwhichphysicalquantitiy
youwishtocalculate.
1. The electric field given an charge.
2. The charge given an electric field.

Positive and negative flux

Use the electric field to get

flux

Derive the Coulomb field!

Positive and negative flux

General form of Gausss law

ApointchargeoutsideaclosedsurfacethatenclosesNO
CHARGE.Ifanelectricfieldlinefromtheexternalchargeenters
thesurfaceatonepoint,itmustleaveatanother!

General form of Gausss law

What are the next Fluxes in each region?

General form of Gausss law

What are the next Fluxes in each region?

Demo The floating metal!

With a cage
and
Without a cage

End Lecture 1

Applications of Gausss law

Under electrostatic conditions, any excess charge on a conductor
resides entirely on its surface.

Applications of Gausss law

Weplaceatotalpositivechargeonasolidconductingspherewithradius.
FindtheelectricfieldvectoratANYpointinsideoroutsidethesphere.

Field of a line charge

Field of a sheet of charge (pill box)

Thefieldfollowsfrom
thefactthatthereare
twosurfacesandone
chargedensity

Field between two parallel conducting plates

Charges on conductors

Net
enclosed q
mustbe
zero!!

A conductor with a cavity

Asolidconductorwithacavitycarriesatotal charge of+7nC.Achargeof
-5nCisplacedinthecavity.Howmuchchargeisoneachsurface(inner
andouter).

Carefulwiththeconceptof
NETcharge.Thisisthe
totalchargeonthemetalat
thestart!

Multiple Conductors Example

Multiple Conductors Example

Multiple Conductors Example

Multiple Conductors Example

A conductor with a cavity

Answer:
NO:Firstunderstandwhythereisnonetcharge.
Second:understandthatthe+Q thatallowstheoutsideto
beatQnet=0willbecancelledbytheelectronsfromthe
groundplane.
Third Since the outside is held at Q = 0 it must be true
thenonetQwillbeenclosedthereforenoouterfiled.

Testing Gausss law experimentally

Faradays ice pail experiment, which confirmed the validity of
Gausss law.

The Van de Graaff generator

The Van de Graaff generator, shown below, operates on the same
principle as in Faradays ice pail experiment.

Electrostatic shielding
A conducting box (a Faraday cage) in an electric field
shields the interior from the field.
Chargeanyone?

Field at the surface of a conductor

The electric field at the
surface of any conductor is
always perpendicular to the
surface and has magnitude
/ 0 .
Show that Coulombs law
give the same result

Example: a non-conducting Sphere with a uniform Charge distribution

What is the force on a charge just outside the shell?

What is the force on a charge just inside the shell?

Summary and notes