When calculating the electric field due to a

continuous charge distribution, we approach

the problem by dividing up the distribution
into tiny elements of charge Δq. Each of
these elements can be treated as a point
charge, which will yield an electric field of
 Δq
ΔE = k e 2 rˆ
r
The total field can then be approximated as
the sum off all such elements:
 Δq i
E   k e 2 rˆi
i ri
Since we have a continuous distribution, we can get a more exact
value by letting the size of the charge elements approach zero:

 Δq i dq
E  lim
Δqi 0

i
k e 2 rˆi  k e  2 rˆ
ri r

where the integral is over the entire charge distribution. A

common condition of these integrals is that the charge
distribution is uniform (constant charge density). In this case we
can make the following substitutions:

• If the charge Q is distributed over a volume V, we can define the

volume charge density as
ρ = Q/V
• If the charge Q is distributed over a surface area A, we can
define the surface charge density as
σ = Q/A

• If the charge Q is distributed over a line of length l, we can

define the linear charge density as
λ = Q/l

The amounts of charge in a differential element of charge dq for

a volume, surface, or line then become

dq = ρ dV, dq = σ dA, dq = λ dl
Example: A rod of length l has a charge Q uniformly distributed
throughout its length. Find the electric field along the at a point
along the axis of the rod a distance a away from one end of the
rod.

Treating each element as a point charge, the electric field for each
element will point in the –x direction. Since an integral is basically
a sum of elements we can assume that all the elements will have
fields that will add up in the same direction and thus the total
electric field will point in the –x direction (this will allow us to
avoid integrating over the unit vectors).
 Each element will have an electric field magnitude of
dq λ dx
dE = k e 2 = k e 2
r x
So our total electric field, at distances from P varying between x = a
and x = l + a will be
x l  a
l+a λ dx l+a dx  -1 
E=
a
ke
x
2  keλ

a x
2  keλ  
 x  xa

= keλ
 1
-
1 

keQ
 a l + a  a (l  a )
 A thin ring of radius a carries
a charge Q distributed
uniformly along its length.
Find the electric field at a
distance x along its central
axis.

The electric field due to each element dq will be

dq
dE = k e 2
r
The electric field will have components perpendicular to the axis
of the ring and parallel to the axis of the ring (the x axis, in our
case). We mention this because all components other than those in
the x direction will cancel.
 For every charge element
we have a corresponding
element on the opposite side
of the ring. Both are the
same distance away from
the field point and thus will
have the same magnitude of
electric field.

The direction of the field is such that all components will cancel other
than the x components. dq
dE = dE x = k e 2
(cos θ)
r
dq x
= ke 2 2
x +a x 2 +a 2
dq
 k e 2 2 3/ 2
(x +a )
Normally we need to set dq = λ dl, but since every element of charge
is the same distance away from the field point (in other words, x
and a are constant),

dq 1 Q
E   k e 2 2 3/ 2 = k e 2 2 3/ 2  dq = k e 2 2 3/ 2
(x +a ) (x +a ) (x +a )
A convenient way to visualize an electric field is by representing
the field direction using lines that are parallel to the electric field
vector at a specific point in space. These electric field lines were
first introduced by Michael Faraday and are extremely useful in
using symmetry to reduce a problem. The two simple rules of
thumb when drawing electric field lines are:

1) The electric field vector is tangent to the electric field line at any
point.
2) The density of the field lines is proportional to the electric field
strength
Some more useful guidelines are:
1. Electric field lines originate on positive charges and
terminate on negative charges.
2. The number of lines is proportional to the amount of charge
3. No two field lines can cross.
Electric flux is a quantity that measures the number of field lines
penetrating a surface of interest. While not seeming like an
important concept, this will lead us to an extremely valuable tool
for calculating the electric field of highly symmetric charge
distributions.

Imagine that we have a surface which is in the presence of an

electric field. We will first look at the flux through small
elements of the surface and then evaluate the flux over the
entire surface area.
 Suppose an element of area, ΔAi, is being
penetrated by and electric field Ei. We can
represent this element of area with a vector
having the magnitude of the area itself and a
direction normal (perpendicular) to the area
element. The flux through this element is
defined as
 
Electric Flux  ΔΦ E  E i  ΔA i  E i ΔA i cosθ

We can evaluate the total flux through the surface by summing

over all such elements and making the element size approach zero:

   
Φ E  lim E i  ΔA i   E i  dA
ΔA i 0
 For a closed surface the
situation becomes slightly
more complicated. First of all,
the normal vectors to all the
elements by convention point
out of the bounded volume.
Secondly, some of the dot
products will yield negative
flux. A negative flux simply
represents flow of field into a
volume, positive flux
represents flow out of a
volume. If we have a closed
surface, the flux is represented
slightly differently:
 
Φ E   E i  dA
 A constant electric field
flows through a square of
sides l. The field points in
the x direction. Find the net
electric flux through the
entire cube.

Only faces 1 and 2 will have a flux, since E and dA are

perpendicular throughout all elements on the other faces of the cube
(the dot product involves the cosine of the angle between E and dA).
 
Φ1   E  dA   E dA cos 180 = -E  dA = -EA = -El 2
 
Φ 2   E  dA   E dA cos 0 = E  dA = -EA = El 2
Thus, Φtotal = ΣΦi = -El2 + El2 = 0

This result makes sense, as the source of electric field was

outside of our volume. In that case, we expect as many field
lines flowing in (negative flux) as we do flowing out (positive
flux).
Gauss’ Law gives us a relationship between the flux through a
closed surface and the charge contained within the surface. Imagine
that we are evaluating the electric flux through a spherical surface
with a point charge at its center.
An imaginary surface for evaluating
electric flux is called a Gaussian surface.

First we note that the electric field points

radially away from the point charge. We
also notice that all the area vectors dAi on
the surface of the sphere also point radially
away from the charge. Finally, we know
that the electric field should be constant on
the surface of the sphere.
  
Φ E   E  dA   E dA cos0  E  dA  EA

Since E = keq/r2 for a point charge, and the surface area of a sphere
is 4πr2,
 q  q
Φ E = EA =  2
 4πr  
2

 4πε 0 r  ε0

We used the substitution ke = 1/(4πε0), where ε0 is the permittivity

of free space (8.85 x 10-12 C2/(N•m2))

We chose a sphere to integrate over but the shape could be a

completely arbitrary one, as we can see in the next slide.
 All the shapes have the same electric flux
since they all contain the same number of
field lines. Thus, for any shape
surrounding our point charge q,

q
ΦE =
ε0

If we had many point charges, we could surround each with a

sphere which would give the same result as the one above. We
could then surround all of the individual Gaussian spheres with an
arbitrary volume, which would have to contain the same amount of
flux as all the individual spheres combined:

q1 + q 2 + .....
Φ E = Φ1 +  2 + ..... =
ε0
We could make the same argument for a continuous charge
distribution, as we can split it up into many infinitesimal
elements and then find the flux, yielding the same result as
before.

Gauss’ Law
The net flux through any closed surface is
  q in
Φ E   E  dA 
ε0
where qin is the net charge contained within the surface.
In principle, we can use Gauss’ Law to evaluate any unknown
electric field knowing only that the field should decrease with
distance and that it points radially away from a charge source by
choosing a convenient surface over which we evaluate the electric
flux. In reality, we need to meet as many of the following
conditions to be able to use Gauss’ Law:

1. The value of the electric field can be argued to be constant

over the surface by symmetry.
2. The value of the dot product is (E dA) because the two
vectors are parallel.
3. The value of the dot product is zero because E and dA are
perpendicular.
4. The value of the field can be argued to be zero throughout the
surface
 Imagine that we didn’t know the field due
to a point charge. We could use Gauss’
Law to find the field at a distance r from
the charge. First, we construct a sphere
around the charge because 1) all points on
the sphere’s surface are the same distance
away from the charge, thus the field should
be constant, and 2) the elements of area dA
point radially away from the charge, in the
same direction as E.
  q in
Φ E   E  dA   E dA cos0  E  dA  E( 4 r ) 
2

0
q in q q
E= 2
= 2
= ke 2
4πε 0 r 4πε 0 r r