Gauss's Law - electric flux through a spherical shell

AI Thread Summary
To determine the total electric flux through a spherical shell in a uniform electric field, Gauss's Law states that the electric flux is proportional to the charge enclosed within the shell. Since the problem specifies a uniform electric field and questions whether there is any charge inside the shell, it is clarified that if no charge is enclosed, the total electric flux through the shell is zero. The initial calculation using E * 4πr² is incorrect because it assumes the flux is affected by the external field without accounting for the lack of enclosed charge. Thus, the correct answer is that the electric flux through the shell is zero due to the absence of any internal charge. Understanding the implications of Gauss's Law is crucial for solving such problems.
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Homework Statement



A spherical shell of radius 4 m is placed in a uniform electric field with magnitude
7020 N/C. Determine the total electric flux through
the shell. Answer in units of N · m^2/C.

Homework Equations



Gauss's Law

The Attempt at a Solution



I thought this would be as simple as E * 4\pir^{2} , but it's not working

I did 7020 * 4\pi*4^{2} and got 1411454.747, which isn't right. Is there something more to the problem that I'm missing?
 
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Is there any charge enclosed inside the shell? If there is no charge inside the shell, and the only electric field of concern is caused by some sort of charge distribution outside the shell, what does Gauss' law say about that?
 
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