How do I compute electric flux through a half-cylinder

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1. Jan 30, 2016

micro435

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
In figure 1, take the half-cylinder's radius and length to be 3.4cm and 15cm respectively.

If the electric field has magnitude 5.9 kN/C, find the flux through the half-cylinder. Hint: You don't need to do an integral! Why not?

2. Relevant equations

3. The attempt at a solution
I tried finding the area of the cylindrical surface and multiplying that by the magnitude of the electric field. That didn't work. Then I tried finding the area of the rectangle that would be the further side of the half-cylinder and multiplying that by the electric field but again, that didn't work.

Do I need to use a different equation? I was originally using flux = E * A. Should I be using something else?

2. Jan 30, 2016

Staff: Mentor

Can you show the details of your calculation for the rectangular area method? E*A should work. Are you supposed to specify the result in particular units?