Scribd
Upload
103 views25 pages

Chapter 25 Gauss' Law

This document provides an overview of Gauss's law in electromagnetism. It introduces Gauss's law, which relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the electric charge enclosed by the surface. It then discusses applications of Gauss's law, including deriving Coulomb's law, calculating electric fields of charged conductors and charged spheres, and solving problems using Gauss's law. It also briefly discusses Earnshaw's theorem, which states that point charges cannot be maintained in static equilibrium solely by electrostatic forces.

Uploaded by

Saravana Vel
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
103 views25 pages

Chapter 25 Gauss' Law

This document provides an overview of Gauss's law in electromagnetism. It introduces Gauss's law, which relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the electric charge enclosed by the surface. It then discusses applications of Gauss's law, including deriving Coulomb's law, calculating electric fields of charged conductors and charged spheres, and solving problems using Gauss's law. It also briefly discusses Earnshaw's theorem, which states that point charges cannot be maintained in static equilibrium solely by electrostatic forces.

Uploaded by

Saravana Vel
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 25

Chapter 25 Gauss Law

A new (mathematical) look at Faradays electric field lines


Faraday:

N Ew A

Gauss: define electric field flux as

* E ! EA if E is perpendicular to
the surface A.

A new (mathematical) look at Faradays electric field lines


& * E ! EA cos U ! E An

Flux of an electric field


Gaussian surface

T T * ! E dA

is an integration over an enclosed suface.


T dA is a surface element with
its normal direction pointing outward.

Gauss law
T T qenc * ! E dA ! I0
Proof:

Proof of Gauss law


From Coulombs law,

E2 r12 ! 2 E1 r2
The flux within a given solid angle is constant.

A1 A2 cos U ;! 2 ! r1 r22
Thus, we have *1 ! * 2

Deriving Coulombs law from Gauss law


Assume that space is isotropic and homogeneous.

A charged isolated conductor


Electric field near the outer surface of a conductor:

& W E! n I0

Applications of Gauss law

A uniformly charged sphere

Problem solving guide for Gauss law


Use the symmetry of the charge distribution to determine the pattern of the field lines. Choose a Gaussian surface for which E is either parallel to or perpendicular to dA. If E is parallel to dA, then the magnitude of E should be constant over this part of the surface. The integral then reduces to a sum over area elements.

Applications of Gauss law


Pl JE ! 2T rlE ! I0 P E! 2T rI 0

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law


Given that the linear charge density of a charged air column is -10-3 C/m, find the radius of the column.

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss law

Earnshaw theorem
Earnshaw's theorem states that a collection of point charges cannot be maintained in an equilibrium configuration solely by the electrostatic interaction of the charges. This was first stated by Samual Earnshaw in 1842. It is usually referenced to magnetic fields, but originally applied to electrostatic fields, and, in fact, applies to any classical inverse square law force or combination of forces (such as magnetic, electric, and gravitational fields).

A simple proof of Earnshaw theorem


This follows from Gauss law. The force acting on an object F(x) (as a function of position) due to a combination of inverse-square law forces (forces deriving from a potential which satisfies Laplaces equation) will always be divergenceless (F = 0) in free space. What this means is that if the electric (or magnetic, or gravitational) field points inwards towards some point, it will always also point outwards. There are no local minima or maxima of the field in free space, only saddle points.

Home work
Question ( Exercise ( Problem ( ): 7, 12, 18 ): 5, 14, 18 ): 14, 24, 31, 32

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy