Physics 536

Dr. D. Sober

23 January 2008
Proof of Gausss Law Using Solid Angle

Griffiths justifies Gausss law on the basis of field lines. A more rigorous argument uses the
concept of solid angle. An infinitesimal element of area
located at position from an origin
subtends the solid angle

at that origin, where

is a unit vector

normal to the element of area, and

. Solid angle (= projected area divided by r2) is a
dimensionless quantity measured in steradians (sr). For a sphere of radius R centered on the
origin, each

is parallel to , so

, and the total solid angle is

.

Now consider a particular element of area

on a sphere of radius r,
subtending solid angle dS. The element , located a distance r from
the origin, is bounded by a particular cone (in the general sense) of rays
from the origin. Consider a second element of area,
, at a different
distance rN from the origin, which is bounded by the same cone of rays.
Then
subtends the same solid angle as :
,

where

Figure 1

(1)

We can easily generalize this to the case in which da does not necessarily lie on a sphere, and
is not necessarily parallel to :
.

(2)

Let us apply this formalism to the electric field of a point charge q located at the center of the
sphere in Figure 1. The electric flux through area da on the sphere is
.
(3)
The flux through the entire sphere of radius r is given by
(sphere centered on point charge). (4)
This looks like Gausss law, but it has been derived only for a spherical Gaussian surface
centered on a point charge.
To derive a more general result, consider a second closed Gaussian surface SN of arbitrary shape
surrounding the sphere S (Figure 2). For each area element da on the sphere, there is a
corresponding area element daN on SN which is bounded by the same cone of rays from the center
of the sphere, and thus subtends the same solid angle at the center of the sphere. The electric flux
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through the area daN is given by

,

(5)

i.e. the same as the electric flux through da. Integrating over SN, we
obtain
(6)
(for any closed surface surrounding q),
which proves Gausss law for a single point charge. Note that this
result could have been obtained more quickly by using the fact that the solid angle subtended by
any closed surface surrounding a point is 4B.
Figure 2

For a point charge which is outside the closed surface, we use the
fact that the same cone of rays from the charge intercepts two
elements of area which subtend the same solid angle but contribute
equal and opposite amounts of flux, since in
is
always the outward normal (Figure 3). Thus the flux through the
closed surface due to a charge outside the surface is zero.
Figure 3

Finally, to prove Gausss law in general, we must use superposition

of several charges. Since
(where
is the field due to charge i and the summation is
over the charges), the flux though any element of area can be written
,
where

(7)

is the element of electric flux contributed by charge i.

Using (6), (7) and the fact that

for charges outside the Gaussian surface, we may write

(8)

which is true for any closed surface, proving Gausss law.

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