ABSTRACT
Recall the example in the previous chapter, in which an isolated point charge, q, is fixed at a particular point in space which is taken to be the origin of coordinates. At a field point, P, described by the vector ~r, the electric field produced by the point charge is
→ E q (P) = lim
q0 =
k q0∣∣~r ∣∣2 rˆ . Now imagine a spherical shell [a.k.a. a Gaussian surface], So, of radius R =
∣∣~r ∣∣, concentric with the charge. We shall recapitulate and extend our computation [performed in Chapter 5] of the electric flux through this closed surface. The fluxes through infinitesimal patches of the surface, dΦe =
→ E · d→A , integrate to yield
Φe,So =
→ E · d→A .
