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' Law relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the total charge enclosed by that surface. It provides a convenient way to calculate electric fields for symmetric charge distributions.
Related terms
Electric Flux: The measure of how much electric field passes through a given area.
Closed Surface: A hypothetical boundary enclosing an object or region of interest.
Charge Density: The amount of charge per unit volume or unit area.