Gauss’s Law
According to Gauss’s law, the total of the electric flux out of a closed surface is equal to the charge enclosed divided by the permittivity. The total electric flux through a closed surface is zero if no charge is enclosed by the surface.
- Gauss’s law is true for any closed surface, no matter what its shape or size.
- The term q on the right side of Gauss’s lawincludes the sum of all charges enclosed by the surface. The charges may be located anywhere inside the surface.
- In the situation when the surface is so chosen that there are some charges inside and some outside, the electric field [whose flux appears on the left side of Eq. (1.31)] is due to all the charges, both inside and outside S. The term q on the right side of Gauss’s law, however, represents only the total charge inside S.
- The surface that we choose for the application of Gauss’s law is called the Gaussian surface. The Gaussian surface can pass through a continuous charge distribution.
- Gauss’s law is useful for the calculation of the electrostatic field for a symmetric system.
- Gauss’s law is based on the inverse square dependence on distance contained in the Coulomb’s law. Any violation of Gauss’s law will indicate departure from the inverse square law.
