Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Gauss's law for electric fields states that the total electric flux passing through any closed surface is equal to 1/ε₀ times the net charge enclosed by that surface. It relates electric fields to the distribution of electric charges.
Related terms
Electric Flux: A measure of how much electric field passes through a given area.
Closed Surface: A hypothetical boundary that encloses a certain region in space, used for calculations involving electric fields or charges.
Electric Field: A region around an electric charge where other charged particles experience a force.