Q.What is meant by Electric Flux? State Gauss's law in electrostatics and, using this, find the expression for electric field intensity due to a uniformly charged infinite plane sheet.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Electric flux measures field lines through a surface; Gauss's law relates flux to enclosed charge, and gives for an infinite sheet.
Electric Flux: The electric flux through a small area element is defined as -- a measure of the number of electric field lines passing through that area. The total flux through a closed surface is .
Gauss's Law: The total electric flux through any closed surface (a 'Gaussian surface') equals times the total charge enclosed by that surface:
Field due to an infinite plane sheet of charge (using Gauss's law):
Consider an infinite plane sheet with uniform surface charge density . By symmetry, the field must be perpendicular to the sheet and point away from it on both sides (for positive ), with equal magnitude at equal perpendicular distances.
Choose a cylindrical (pillbox) Gaussian surface of cross-sectional area , with its axis perpendicular to the sheet and with the sheet bisecting it, so that one flat face lies on each side at equal distance from the sheet.
Flux through the curved surface is zero (E is parallel to it). Flux through each flat end cap is , so total flux .
Charge enclosed .
By Gauss's law:
Notably, this field is uniform -- independent of the distance from the sheet.
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