CVE

Electrical Science

Lesson 6: Gauss’s Law

V. Nundwe, Staff Associate in Electronics & Electrical Engineering
Intended Learning Outcome
• By the end of this lesson, the student should develop a good
understanding of the concepts of charge and matter

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Outline
• Introduction • Gauss Law
• Summary
• Next lesson

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1. Electric flux
• The number of electric field lines that penetrates a given
surface is called an “electric flux,” which we denote as
ΦE .

ΦE = 𝐸. 𝐴Ԧ ΦE = 𝐸. 𝐴Ԧ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃

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2. Gauss’s Law
• The electric flux through any
closed Gaussian surface is
proportional to the total charge
enclosed by the surface

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3. Gauss’s Law- Calculating E

The field is constant on the surface, therefore

Proof of Coulomb’s Law

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4. Gauss’s Law- Applicable systems
Steps for applying Gauss’s Law
The following steps may be useful when applying Gauss’s law:

1. Identify the symmetry associated with the charge distribution.

2. Determine the direction of the electric field, and a “Gaussian surface” on
which the magnitude of the electric field is constant over portions of the
surface.
3. Divide the space into different regions associated with the charge
distribution. For each region, calculate qenc , the charge enclosed by the
Gaussian surface.
4. Calculate the electric flux ΦE through the Gaussian surface for each
region.
5. Equate ΦE with qenc / ε0 , and deduce the magnitude of the electric field.
5. Applicable systems- Spherical shell (1)
• Scenario: system(sphere)
• A thin spherical shell of radius
a has a charge +Q evenly
distributed over its surface.
Find the electric field both
inside and outside the shell:

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6. Applicable systems- Spherical shell (2)
• Solution
• The charge distribution is
spherically symmetric, with a
surface charge density

The electric field must be

radially symmetric and
directed outward as shown.

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7. Applicable systems- Spherical shell (3)
• Solution: Case 1 where r ≤ a
The charge enclosed by the
Gaussian surface is zero, since
all the charge is located on the
surface of the shell. Thus, from
Gauss’s law, we conclude that
E=0

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8. Applicable systems- Spherical shell (4)
• Solution: Case 2 where r > a
• all the charge is enclosed since
r > a, and charge on sphere is
equal to total charge.
𝟐
𝑸
Φ = 𝑬. 𝑨 = 𝑬 𝟒𝝅𝒓 =
𝜺𝑶

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9. Applicable systems- Spherical shell (5)
• Solution: Case 2 where r > a
• By applying Gauss’s Law

• Note that the field outside the

sphere is the same as if all the
charges were concentrated at
the centre of the sphere Qualitative behaviour
of E as a function of r

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10. Applicable systems- Non-conducting solid
sphere
• Scenario: system(sphere)
• An electric charge +Q is uniformly distributed
throughout a non-conducting solid sphere of radius a .
Determine the electric field everywhere inside and
outside the sphere.
• Solution
The charge distribution is spherically symmetric with the
volume charge density given by:
𝑸 𝑸
𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝝆 = =
𝑽 𝟒Τ𝟑 𝝅𝒂𝟑

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11. Applicable systems- Non-conducting solid
sphere (2)
• Solution: Case 1 were r < a
The flux through the Gaussian surface is

• With uniform charge distribution, the

charge enclosed is

• The charge enclosed is proportional to the

volume enclosed by the Gaussian surface.

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12. Applicable systems- Non-conducting solid
sphere (3)
• Solution: Case 1 were r < a
Applying Gauss’s law we obtain;

𝟏 𝑸𝒓𝟑 𝑸𝒓
𝑬= 𝟐
. 𝟑
= 𝟑
𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓 ≤ 𝒂
𝟒𝝅𝒓 𝜺𝟎 𝒂 𝟒𝝅𝜺𝟎 𝒂

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13. Applicable systems- Non-conducting solid
sphere (4)
• Solution: Case 2 where r > a
All the charge is enclosed in our
Gaussian surface and is equal to Q
• The electric flux is given by;
𝑸
Φ = 𝑬𝑨 = 𝑬 𝟒𝝅𝒓𝟐 =
𝜺𝟎
• upon applying Gauss’s law;
𝑸 𝑸
𝑬= = 𝒌𝒆 𝟐 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓 > 𝒂
𝟒𝝅𝜺𝟎 𝒓𝟐 𝒓

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14. Applicable systems- Non-conducting solid
sphere (5)
• Solution: Case 2 where r > a
The qualitative behavior of E
as a function of r greater then
a is shown below, and is
inversely proportional to the
square of the radius.

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15. Applicable systems- Conductors
Inside a conductor, electrons are free to move around.
The basic properties of a conductor are the following:
1. The electric field is zero inside a conductor

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16. Applicable systems- Conductors
2. Any net charge must reside on the surface.
If there were a net charge inside the conductor, then
by Gauss’s law , E would no longer be zero there.
Therefore, all the net excess charge must flow to the
surface of the conductor.

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17. Applicable systems- Conductors
3. The tangential component of E is zero on the surface
of a conductor.

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18. Applicable systems- Conductors
4. E is normal to the surface just outside the
conductor.

A Gaussian “pillbox”
for computing the
electric field outside
the conductor.

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19. Applicable systems- Conductors
Example: Conductor with Charge
Inside a Cavity
Consider a hollow conductor
shown below. Suppose the net
charge carried by the conductor is
+Q. In addition, there is a charge q
inside the cavity. What is the
charge on the outer surface of the
conductor?

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20. Applicable systems- Conductors
Example solution: Conductor with Charge Inside a
Cavity
Since the electric field inside a conductor must be zero,
the net charge enclosed by the Gaussian surface shown
must be zero. This implies that a charge –q must have
been induced on the cavity surface. Since the
conductor itself has a charge +Q, the amount of charge
on the outer surface of the conductor must be . Q + q

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 Prescribed text
• Hughes E. (2008). Electrical & Electronic Technology. 10th Edition.
Pearson Prentice Hall.

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Recommended resources/ Reading lists
• Bird J. (2009). Electrical Circuit Theory and Technology. 3rd Edition.
Elsevier Private Limited. India

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Summary
In this lesson, we have:
• Developed a good understanding of Capacitors and dielectrics

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Next lesson
• In the next lesson we will introduce Electric fields

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 THANK YOU

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