GAUSS LAW

ABSTRACT:

The law was first[1] formulated by Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1773,[2] followed by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1835,[3] both in the context
of the attraction of ellipsoids. It is one of Maxwell's equations, which forms the basis of classical electrodynamics.[note 1] Gauss's law
can be used to derive Coulomb's law,[4] and vice versa.

INTRODUCTION

In physics (specifically electromagnetism), Gauss's law, also known as Gauss's flux theorem (or sometimes Gauss's theorem), is one of
Maxwell's equations. It relates the distribution of electric charge to the resulting electric field.In its integral form, it states that the flux of
the electric field out of an arbitrary closed surface is proportional to the electric charge enclosed by the surface, irrespective of how that
charge is distributed. Even though the law alone is insufficient to determine the electric field across a surface enclosing any charge
distribution, this may be possible in cases where symmetry mandates uniformity of the field. Where no such symmetry exists, Gauss's
law can be used in its differential form, which states that the divergence of the electric field is proportional to the local density of charge.

GAUSS LAW:

Gauss's law states:

“The net electric flux through any hypothetical closed surface is equal to 1/ε0 times the net electric charge enclosed within that closed
surface. The closed surface is also referred to as Gaussian surface”.

Gauss's law has a close mathematical similarity with a number of laws in other areas of physics, such as Gauss's law for magnetism and
Gauss's law for gravity. In fact, any inverse-square law can be formulated in a way similar to Gauss's law: for example, Gauss's law itself
is essentially equivalent to the Coulomb's law, and Gauss's law for gravity is essentially equivalent to the Newton's law of gravity, both
of which are inverse-square laws.

The law can be expressed mathematically using vector calculus in integral form and differential form; both are equivalent since they are
related by the divergence theorem, also called Gauss's theorem. Each of these forms in turn can also be expressed two ways: In terms of
a relation between the electric field E and the total electric charge, or in terms of the electric displacement field D and the free electric
charge.

Gauss's law can be stated using either the electric field E or the electric displacement field D. This section shows some of the forms with
E; the form with D is below, as are other forms with E.
Some important points of gauss law’

(i) Gauss’s law is true for any closed surface, no matter what its shape or size.

(ii) The term q on the right side of Gauss’s law, Equation includes the sum of all charges enclosed by the surface. The charges may be
located anywhere inside the surface.

(iii) 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.

(iv)The surface that we choose for the application of Gauss’s law is called the Gaussian surface. You may choose any Gaussian surface
and apply Gauss’s law. However, take care not to let the Gaussian surface pass through any discrete charge. This is because electric field
due to a system of discrete charges is not well defined at the location of any charge. (As you go close to the charge, the field grows
without any bound.) However, the Gaussian surface can pass through a continuous charge distribution.

(v) Gauss’s law is often useful towards a much easier calculation of the electrostatic field when the system has some symmetry. This is
facilitated by the choice of a suitable Gaussian surface.

(vi) Finally, 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.

INTEGRAL FORM:

Gauss law is expressed as,

where,

ΦE is the electric flux through a closed surface

S enclosing any volume V,

Q is the total charge enclosed within V,

ε0 is the electric constant.

The electric flux ΦE is defined as a surface integral of the electric field:

ΦE=
Where E is the electric field,

dA is a vector representing an infinitesimal element of area of the surface,

Since the flux is defined as an integral of the electric field, this expression of Gauss's law is called the integral form.
In problems involving conductors set at known potentials, the potential away from them is obtained by solving Laplace's equation, either
analytically or numerically. The electric field is then calculated as the potential's negative gradient. Gauss's law makes it possible to find
the distribution of electric charge: The charge in any given region of the conductor can be deduced by integrating the electric field to find
the flux through a small box whose sides are perpendicular to the conductor's surface and by noting that the electric field is perpendicular
to the surface, and zero inside the conductor.

The reverse problem, when the electric charge distribution is known and the electric field must be computed, is much more difficult. The
total flux through a given surface gives little information about the electric field, and can go in and out of the surface in arbitrarily
complicated patterns.

An exception is if there is some symmetry in the problem, which mandates that the electric field passes through the surface in a uniform
way. Then, if the total flux is known, the field itself can be deduced at every point. Common examples of symmetries which lend
themselves to Gauss's law include: cylindrical symmetry, planar symmetry, and spherical symmetry. See the article Gaussian surface for
examples where these symmetries are exploited to compute electric fields.

DIFFERENTIAL FORMS:

By the divergence theorem, Gauss's law can alternatively be written in the differential form:

where ∇ · E is the divergence of the electric field,

ε0 is the vacuum permittivity,

is the relative permittivity,

ρ is the volume charge density (charge per unit volume).

EQUIVALENCE OF DIFFERENTIAL AND INTEGRAL FORMS

The integral and differential forms are mathematically equivalent, by the divergence theorem

The integral form of Gauss' law is:

for any closed surface S containing charge Q. By the divergence theorem, this equation is equivalent to:
for any volume V containing charge Q. By the relation between charge and charge density, this equation is equivalent to:

for any volume V. In order for this equation to be simultaneously true for every possible volume V, it is necessary (and sufficient) for the
integrands to be equal everywhere. Therefore, this equation is equivalent to:

Thus the integral and differential forms are equivalent.

FREE, BOUND, AND TOTAL CHARGE:

The electric charge that arises in the simplest textbook situations would be classified as "free charge"—for example, the charge which is
transferred in static electricity, or the charge on a capacitor plate. In contrast, "bound charge" arises only in the context of dielectric
(polarizable) materials. (All materials are polarizable to some extent.) When such materials are placed in an external electric field, the
electrons remain bound to their respective atoms, but shift a microscopic distance in response to the field, so that they're more on one
side of the atom than the other. All these microscopic displacements add up to give a macroscopic net charge distribution, and this
constitutes the "bound charge".

Although microscopically all charge is fundamentally the same, there are often practical reasons for wanting to treat bound charge
differently from free charge. The result is that the more fundamental Gauss's law, in terms of E (above), is sometimes put into the
equivalent form below, which is in terms of D and the free charge only.

INTEGRAL FORM

This formulation of Gauss's law states the total charge form:

where,

ΦD is the D-field flux through a surface S which encloses a volume V,

Qfree is the free charge contained in V.

The flux ΦD is defined analogously to the flux ΦE of the electric field E through S:=

DIFFERENTIAL FORM

The differential form of Gauss's law, involving free charge only, states:

where ∇ · D is the divergence of the electric displacement field,

ρfree is the free electric charge density.

EQUIVALENCE OF TOTAL AND FREE CHARGE STATEMENTS:

Proof that the formulations of Gauss's law in terms of free charge are equivalent to the formulations involving total charge.

In this proof, we will show that the equation

is equivalent to the equation

We introduce the polarization density P, which has the following relation to E and D:

and the following relation to the bound charge:

Now, consider the three equations:

DERIVATION:

The key insight is that the sum of the first two equations is the third equation.

the electric field at a point that is at a distance from the charge at the origin is given by

where r is the radial vector from the charge at the origin to the point . We can use this
electric field to find the flux through the spherical surface of radius

Then we apply to this system and substitute known values. On the

sphere, and , so for an infinitesimal area ,
We now find the net flux by integrating this flux over the surface of the sphere:

where the total surface area of the spherical surface is . This gives the flux through the closed spherical surface at radius as

A remarkable fact about this equation is that the flux is independent of the size of the spherical surface. This can be directly attributed to
the fact that the electric field of a point charge decreases as with distance, which just cancels the rate of increase of the surface
area.

APPLICATIONS:

FIELD DUE TO AN INFINITELY LONG STRAIGHT UNIFORMLY CHARGED WIRE:

Consider an infinitely long thin straight wire with uniform linear charge density λ. The wire is obviously an axis of symmetry. Suppose
we take the radial vector from O to P and rotate it around the wire. The points P, P′, P′′ so obtained are completely equivalent with
respect to the charged wire. This implies that the electric field must have the same magnitude at these points. The direction of electric
field at every point must be radial (outward if λ > 0, inward if λ < 0).

Consider a pair of line elements P1 and P2 of the wire, as shown. The electric fields produced by the two elements of the pair when
summed give a resultant electric field which is radial (the components normal to the radial vector cancel). This is true for any such pair
and hence the total field at any point P is radial. Finally, since the wire is infinite, electric field does not depend on the position of P along
the length of the wire. In short, the electric field is everywhere radial in the plane cutting the wire normally, and its magnitude depends
only on the radial distance r.

To calculate the field, imagine a cylindrical Gaussian surface, as shown in the Fig.(b). Since the field is everywhere radial, flux through
the two ends of the cylindrical Gaussian surface is zero. At the cylindrical part of the surface, E is normal to the surface at every point,
and its magnitude is constant, since it depends only on r. The surface area of the curved part is is 2πrl, where l is the length of the
cylinder.
Flux through the Gaussian surface

= flux through the curved cylindrical part of the surface

= E×2πrl

The surface includes charge equal to λ l. Gauss’s law then gives

E × 2πrl = λl/ε 0

i.e., E = 2πε0r

Vectorially, E at any point is given by

E= λ nˆ/ 2πε0r

where nˆ is the radial unit vector in the plane normal to the wire passing through the point

E is directed outward if λ is positive and inward if λ is negative.

FIELD DUE TO A UNIFORMLY CHARGED INFINITE PLANE SHEET:

Let σ be the uniform surface charge density of an infinite plane sheet. We take the x-axis normal to the given plane. By symmetry, the
electric field will not depend on y and z coordinates and its direction at every point must be parallel to the x-direction. We can take the
Gaussian surface to be a rectangular parallelepiped of cross sectional area A, as shown. (A cylindrical surface will also do.) As seen from
the figure, only the two faces 1 and 2 will contribute to the flux; electric field lines are parallel to the other faces and they, therefore, do
not contribute to the total flux.

The unit vector normal to surface 1 is in –x direction while the unit vector normal to surface 2 is in the +x direction. Therefore, flux E.ΔS
through both the surfaces are equal and add up. Therefore the net flux through the Gaussian surface is 2 EA. The charge enclosed by the
closed surface is σA. Therefore by Gauss’s law,

2 EA = σA/ε0

or, E = σ/2ε0

Vectorially,

E = σ/2ε0 nˆ

Where nˆ is a unit vector normal to the plane and going away from it.
E is directed away from the plate if σ is positive and toward the plate if σ is negative.

FIELD DUE TO A UNIFORMLY CHARGED THIN SPHERICAL SHELL:

(i)Field outside the shell:

Consider a point P outside the shell with radius vector r. To calculate E at P, we

take the Gaussian surface to be a sphere of radius r and with centre O, passing
through P. All points on this sphere are equivalent relative to the given charged
configuration. (That is what we mean by spherical symmetry.) The electric field
at each point of the Gaussian surface, therefore, has the same magnitude E and
is along the radius vector at each point. Thus, E and ΔS at every point are
parallel and the flux through each element is E ΔS. Summing over all ΔS, the
flux through the Gaussian surface is E × 4 π r2. The charge enclosed is σ × 4 π
R 2. By Gauss’s law

E × 4 π r 2 = εσ 4 π R 2 0

Or,E=σR2= q

ε r2 4πε r2

where q = 4 π R2 σ is the total charge on the spherical shell.

Vectorially,

E= q/ 4πε0 r2 rˆ

the electric field is directed outward if q > 0 and inward if q < 0. This, however, is exactly the field produced by a charge q placed at the
centre O. Thus for points outside the shell, the field due to a uniformly charged shell is as if the entire charge of the shell is concentrated
at its centre.

(ii)Field inside the shell:

In Fig the point P is inside the shell. The Gaussian surface is again a sphere
through P centred at O.

The flux through the Gaussian surface, calculated as before, is E × 4 π r2.

However, in this case, the Gaussian surface encloses no charge. Gauss’s law
then gives

E × 4 π r2 = 0

i.e., E=0 i.e, the field due to a uniformly charged thin shell is zero at all
points inside the shell. This important result is a direct consequence of
Gauss’s law which follows from Coulomb’s law. The experimental
verification of this result confirms the 1/r2 dependence in Coulomb’s law.