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gulfcoastfella
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Homework Statement
(This isn't a homework problem; I'm just working through Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics" textbook, and can't find a very clear explanation.)
When the relationship between electric field and charge distribution are given by:
[tex]\nabla[/tex] [tex]\cdot[/tex] E = [tex]\frac{\rho}{\epsilon_{o}}[/tex]
does this require that the charge distribution fill a particular volume, like that bound by a Gaussian surface, where E is computed on the Gaussian surface? If not, how is the volume of the charge distribution accounted for in the equation? Basically, does the above equation demand that E be calculated on a Gaussian surface bounding a volume filled with the charge density [tex]\rho[/tex]?
The same question applies for Poisson's Equation...
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