Application of gauss law

According to Gauss’s law, the total of the electric flux out of a closed surface is equal to the charge enclosed divided by the permittivity. The total electric flux through a closed surface is zero if no charge is enclosed by the surface.

• Gauss’s law is true for any closed surface, no matter what its shape or size.
• The term q on the right side of Gauss’s law includes the sum of all charges enclosed by the surface. The charges may be located anywhere inside the surface.
• In the situation when the surface is so chosen that there are some charges inside and some outside, the electric field is due to all the charges, both inside and outside S. The term q on the right side of Gauss’s law, however, represents only the total charge inside S.
• The surface that we choose for the application of Gauss’s law is called the Gaussian surface. The Gaussian surface can pass through a continuous charge distribution.
• Gauss’s law is useful for the calculation of the electrostatic field for a symmetric system.
• Gauss’s law is based on the inverse square dependence on distance contained in the Coulomb’s law. Any violation of Gauss’s law will indicate departure from the inverse square law.