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Q.State Gauss's law of electrostatistics. Find an expression for electric field due to infinitely long straight wire. OR Find an expression for the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor in presence of dielectric slab between its plates.

Jammu Kashmir JkboseJKBOSE Class 12 Annual Regular Examination 2026Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Gauss's law relates the flux through any closed surface to the enclosed charge; applying it with a cylindrical Gaussian surface around an infinite line charge gives E=λ/(2πε0r)E=\lambda/(2\pi\varepsilon_0 r). (OR alternative: inserting a dielectric slab between capacitor plates increases capacitance to C=ε0A/[d−t(1−1/K)]C=\varepsilon_0A/[d-t(1-1/K)].)

Part 1: Gauss's Law

Statement. The total electric flux through any closed surface (a "Gaussian surface") is equal to 1/ε01/\varepsilon_0 times the total charge enclosed by that surface:

ΦE=∮E⃗⋅dA⃗=qencε0\Phi_E = \oint \vec{E}\cdot d\vec{A} = \frac{q_{enc}}{\varepsilon_0}

This holds regardless of the surface's shape or where the charges are located inside it, and follows from Coulomb's law together with the inverse-square nature of the electric field.

Electric field due to an infinitely long straight charged wire

Setup. Consider an infinite straight wire with uniform linear charge density λ\lambda. By symmetry, the field E⃗\vec{E} at a perpendicular distance rr from the wire must point radially outward (for λ>0\lambda>0) and have the same magnitude at every point on a cylinder of radius rr coaxial with the wire.

Choosing the Gaussian surface. Take a cylindrical Gaussian surface of radius rr and length ll, coaxial with the wire.

Applying Gauss's law. The flux through the two flat circular end-caps is zero (since E⃗\vec{E} is parallel to these surfaces, perpendicular to their area vectors). All the flux passes through the curved lateral surface, where E⃗\vec{E} is constant in magnitude and always parallel to dA⃗d\vec{A}:

∮E⃗⋅dA⃗=E (2πrl)\oint \vec{E}\cdot d\vec{A} = E\,(2\pi r l)

Charge enclosed: qenc=λlq_{enc} = \lambda l.

By Gauss's law:

E(2πrl)=λlε0E(2\pi r l) = \frac{\lambda l}{\varepsilon_0}

E=λ2πε0rE = \frac{\lambda}{2\pi\varepsilon_0 r}

The field falls off as 1/r1/r and points radially away from the wire (for positive λ\lambda).


OR: Capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with a dielectric slab

Setup. A parallel plate capacitor has plate area AA, plate separation dd, and a dielectric slab of thickness tt (t<dt<d) and dielectric constant KK inserted between the plates (with vacuum/air filling the remaining gap d−td-t).

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