This document summarizes Gauss's law and how to use it to calculate electric field. Gauss's law relates the electric field to the net electric charge within an enclosed area. It states that the electric flux through any closed surface is proportional to the net charge inside the surface. The document explains the formula for Gauss's law and how it can be used to derive other formulas. Examples are provided for using Gauss's law to calculate the electric field of a thin plate and thin rod with known charge distributions.

1. Gauss’s Law Video Lab
Robin Grathwohl

2. Gauss’s Law Description
• A law that shows the relationship
(quantitatively) between the electric field and
the charge in a closed area.
• In simpler terms, it is the electric field
multiplied by the area of the surface
perpendicular to the field.
• It is how one can find ELECTRIC FLUX

3. The formula
This shows the Electric Field times the area perpendicular to it, which
is one way to find Electric Flux. It should be an integral because you
add up all the little charges.

4. The Formula
• The other formula can be derived from the one on the
first page like so:

5. How it was derived?
• First I used the original equation which multiplies E and
A.
• Then took the derivative so that using dA is possible
(splits the area into little parts)
• Then integrated both sides to find the total flux.
• Simplified it down to new equation

6. Thin Plate

7. Explanation of thin plate
• In this we used the flux equations and set them equal to
one another to find the E field.
• The plate is all positive
• The cylinder is just a shape chosen with equal areas on
top bottom and on the plate so that you can find the e
field.
• You do not have to use a cylinder. It can be any shape with
equal areas on the top bottom and through the plate.
• The E field was found by plugging in both the known info
into both the flux equations and setting them equal to one
another. Then the areas were cancelled out and the
equation was found that gives the E field for the plate.

8. Thin Rod

9. Explanation of Thin Rod
• A similar attempt was taken with the thin rod.
• A cylinder was used around it to back-track through
the electric flux equation to find the electric field.
• Yet again any shape can be used as long as all the
areas are equal so that they can be cancelled out.

10. My understanding of Electric
Flux
• The electric flux is the flow of electric field through a
certain area. What’s helpful about electric flux is it
can be used to find the Electric field by setting both
of the flux equations equal to each other for a
certain shape on the electric field of interest and
then solving for the E field in the equations.

11. Bibliography:
• http://hyperphysics.phy-
astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/gaulaw.html
• (for the diagrams that were not my notes)