Electric flux Definition and 34 Discussions

In electromagnetism, electric flux is the measure of the electric field through a given surface, although an electric field in itself cannot flow. It is a way of describing the electric field strength at any distance from the charge causing the field.
The electric field E can exert a force on an electric charge at any point in space. The electric field is the gradient of the potential.

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  1. A

    I Electric field, flux, and conductor questions

    1) Why is the electric field 0 at the bottom of Gaussian surface? Isn't the electric field on both sides of the surface, pointing down and outwards like a plane of charge? see image. 2) Why does a charge distribution with cylindrical symmetry have to be infinitely long? 3) My book says a...
  2. A

    I Calculation of electric flux on trapezoidal surface

    I am confused at this calculation of the electric flux through a trapezoidal surface. The flux in should equal the flux out. The flux in equals -E*A1 where A1 is the area of the bottom of the trapezoid. The flux out equals E*A2 where A2 is the area of the top of the trapezoid. But the two fluxes...
  3. Harikesh_33

    I Question regarding the use of Electric flux and Field Lines

    1)Field Lines is supposed to represent the electric field around a charge ,now we can draw infinite field lines around a charge and sinc Electric flux is No of Field Lines /area ,does it become infinite ,the whole concept of field lines is quite in the Gray Area for me ,I can in theory mark...
  4. G

    Surface charge density of a plane

    $$\phi_E=\dfrac{Q_{\textrm{enclosed}}}{\varepsilon_0}\Rightarrow Q_{\textrm{enclosed}}=9,6\cdot 10^{-7}\, \textrm{C}$$ $$Q_{\textrm{enclosed}}=\sigma S=\sigma \pi R^2\Rightarrow \sigma =\dfrac{Q_{\textrm{enclosed}}}{\pi (0,1^2)}=3,04\cdot 10^{-5}\, \textrm{C}/\textrm{m}^2$$ I have a lot of...
  5. G

    Flux of the electric field that crosses the faces of a cube

    a) $$\phi_T=\phi_F-\phi_I=10^4\cdot 4\cdot 4-10^4\cdot 4\cdot 4=0\, \textrm{Nm}^2/\textrm{C}$$ b) $$\phi_F=\underbrace{300\cdot 4}_{\vec{E}}\cdot \underbrace{4\cdot 4}_{\textrm{area}}=19200\, \textrm{Nm}^2/\textrm{C}$$ $$\phi_0 = 300\cdot 0\cdot 4\cdot 4=0\, \textrm{Nm}^2/\textrm{C}$$ Then...
  6. E

    Gauss' law and flux concept issues

    Hi guys i have some concept issues about flux. My book says flux is proportional to the number of lines passing through that area. so my question is: first i am thinking that a 2D circle which has a 2r diameter and it is enclosing a 2q charge so its flux should be 2q/Epsilon.then i am thinking a...
  7. V

    Electric Flux for a cube problem

    I have tried to understand the solution given in the book which is as pasted below. The solution uses Gauss's Law but makes no mention of which Gaussian surface is used. The diagram that I have used to understand this problem is also given at the end. From the diagram, faces OADG, OABE and OEFG...
  8. rudransh verma

    B Concept of flux

    Phi= int(E.da) through a surface S is a measure of “number of field lines” passing through S. I put this in quotes because of course we can only draw a representative sample of field lines. The total number would be infinite. But for a given sampling rate the flux is proportional to the number...
  9. rudransh verma

    I Confusion with the direction of E-fields near conductors

    In this page you can see it’s written: E must be perpendicular to the surface. If it were not then the charges would move due to a component along the surface. I am assuming the field is generated due to the charges on the surface. I have a doubt. Is the author saying if it were not...
  10. V

    Electric flux through ends of an imaginary cylinder

    When I look at this question, I can see two possible values of electric flux depending on how I take the normal area vector for either ends ##A \text{ and } A^{'}##. What is wrong with my logic below where I am ending up with two possible answers? The book mentions that only ##2E\Delta{S}## is...
  11. Shreya

    Need Help Understanding Electric Flux and Electric Flux Density

    I don't understand the exact meaning of flux. Please be kind to help.
  12. preachingpirate24

    Electric Field inside the material of a hollow conducting sphere

    Let's say I place a positive point charge inside a hollow conducting sphere. If we take a Gaussian surface through the material of the conductor, we know the field inside the material of the conductor is 0, which implies that there is a -ve charge on the inner wall to make the net enclosed...
  13. CDL

    Electric Flux through the Face of a Cube

    Homework Statement Griffiths' Introduction to Electrodynamics problem 2.10, Homework Equations Gauss' Law, ##\int_{S} \textbf{E}\cdot \textbf{dS} = \frac{Q_{\text{enc}}}{\epsilon_0}##[/B] The Attempt at a Solution It seems reasonable that the flux through the shaded surface and the...
  14. Wrichik Basu

    Finding electric flux using Gauss' Law

    Say you have a hollow cylinder, whose one side is open. Now, you pace a positive charge ##Q## at the centre of this open end (such that it is just inside the cylinder). How much should be the flux coming out from the closed end? I just thought of this problem. In order to use Gauss' Law, we...
  15. Const@ntine

    Gauss' Law: Charged Rod & Sphere (Electric Flux)

    Homework Statement A charged, straight line/rod of infinite length has a Discrete uniform distribution of charge, has a linear density of λ and is at a distance d from a sphere with a radius of R. Find the entirety of the Electrical Flux that is caused by this charged rod, which passes...
  16. jlmccart03

    Electric Flux through half a cylinder

    Homework Statement In (Figure 1) take the half-cylinder's radius and length to be 3.4 cm and 15 cm, respectively. If the electric field has magnitude 5.3 kN/C, find the flux through the open half-cylinder. The surface here is the right half of the surface of a full cylinder. The surface does...
  17. mikemartinlfs

    Four Electric Dipoles = What level of electric flux?

    Homework Statement A circle, centered on the origin, has a radius of 1 mm. At each "pole" (1,0), (0,-1), (-1,0), (0,1) is an electric dipole. The positive charge of +10 microCoulombs is inside the circle, the negative charge of -10 microCoulombs is just outside the circle. What is the...
  18. Blockade

    What are the different kinds of charge density?

    At this point I was given rho, sigma and landa to hold value of these three different kinds of density ρ = Charge/Volume -------------- Volume Density σ = Charge/Area ----------------- Area Density λ = Charge/Length ---------------- Length Density How do I know which type of density to use over...
  19. Blockade

    Need help in Electric Flux within a cube with Gauss' Law

    Homework Statement I need help in figuring out if I have done this problem correctly. From what I understand ∫E * dA = E*A, where E is the electric field and A is the area of a side. My biggest concern is if I can plug in the length "L" for the "x" and "z" variables within "E = -5x * E0/L i +...
  20. A

    Calculating the electric flux

    Homework Statement Hello, A 3.60cm x 4.50cm rectangle lies in the xy-plane. What is the electric flux through the rectangle if E=(80.0i + 50k) N/C ? Homework Equations Φ = E * A =EAcos(θ) The Attempt at a Solution My attempt: First convert the rectangle units from cm to m. 4.50cm =...
  21. A

    Calculating the Electric FLux

    Hello, The problem: A 3.60cm x 4.50cm rectangle lies in the xy-plane. What is the electric flux through the rectangle if E=(80.0i + 50k) N/C ? My attempt: First convert the rectangle units from cm to m. 4.50cm = 0.045m 3.60cm = 0.036m Find the area of the rectangle. A = 0.036m x 0.045m =...
  22. I

    Electric Flux of Two Hemispheres with different radii

    Homework Statement Two hemispherical surfaces, 1 and 2, of respective radii r1 and r2, are centered at a point charge and are facing each other so that their edges define an annular ring (surface 3), as shown. Homework Equations The field at position r⃗ due to the point charge is: E⃗ (r⃗...
  23. gsmtiger18

    Displacement current and magnetic flux through a wire loop

    Homework Statement A long straight wire has a line charge, λ that varies in time according to: λ = λ0e(-βt). A square loop of dimension, a, is adjacent to the wire (at a distance a away from the wire). Calculate expressions for the displacement current at the center of the wire loop and the...
  24. Idyia

    B Shape of a Gaussian surface

    Why doesn't the flux through a Gaussian surface change, when the shape is changed? (while keeping the net charge inside it the same) Flux is the dot product of electric field and surface area, so wouldn't it change if surface area is changed?
  25. L

    Overall Electric flux of a rigid body

    When we looked at some closed surface, we defined the overall electric flux of that surface as the sum of all infinitesimal fluxes of all the infinitesimal surfaces that make the quoted closed surface. Does that change if we do not have a closed surface, but a rigid body such as, let's say, a...
  26. Elvis 123456789

    Applications of Gauss' law

    Homework Statement A slab of insulating material has thickness 2d and is oriented so that its faces are parallel to the yz-plane and given by the planes x=d and x=−d. The y- and z-dimensions of the slab are very large compared to d and may be treated as essentially infinite. Let the charge...
  27. J

    Finding flux through surface where E field is function of x

    Homework Statement In a region of space there is an electric field E(vector E) that is in the x-direction and that has magnitude E=(663 N/(C*m))x Find flux for this field through a square in xy plane at z=0 and with side length 0.330m . One side of the square is along the +x-axis and another...
  28. P

    Electric Flux and Gauss's law

    Homework Statement 1) A large cube has its bottom face on the x-z plane and its back face on the x-y plane. The corners on the x-axis are at (3.39 m,0,0) and (12.3 m,0,0). The cube is immersed in an electric field pointing in the positive x-direction, and given by: E = (91.2x^2 - 2.9)i, x is...
  29. P

    How much charge inside a Gaussian surface?

    Homework Statement The electric field has been measured to be horizontal and to the right everywhere on the closed box shown in the figure. All over the left side of the box E1 = 80 V/m, and all over the right, slanting, side of the box E2 = 400 V/m. On the top the average field is E3 = 260...
  30. H

    Calculate the electric flux

    Homework Statement The Earth possesses an electric field of (average) magnitude 150 N/C near its surface. The field points radially inward. Calculate the net electric flux outward through a spherical surface surrounding, and just beyond, the Earth's surface. Homework Equations Flux =...
  31. M

    Flux Through a Non-Concentric Sphere

    Homework Statement Assume I want to calculate the electric flux through a spherical surface centred at point P with radius R which contains a point charge Q, that is not concentric with the spherical surface. Here, I can no longer assume that ∫∫sEdA = E.A, and I have to calculate the value of...
  32. J

    A small doubt about electric flux

    Hey there... As far as I know, electric flux is a scalar quantity which means that negative values are smaller than zero. This concept really confuses me since most of the exercises I dealt with suggest that negative flux somehow is larger than zero flux Example 1 the uniform field is directed...
  33. deedsy

    Spherical Charge Distribution - Electric Field Intensity

    Homework Statement A spherical charge distribution is given by p = p_0 (1- \frac{r^2}{a^2}), r\leq a and p = 0, r \gt a , where a is the radius of the sphere. Find the electric field intensity inside the charge distribution. Well I thought I found the answer until I looked at the back of...
  34. deedsy

    Electric Flux through a sphere from a point charge

    Homework Statement I need to create an equation that can tell me the electric flux through the surface of a sphere (centered at the origin) due to a point charge placed at various locations in/around the sphere. For example, find the electric flux through the sphere (of radius = 1) with a point...
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