- #1
wfunction
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Hi all,
What is the unit of electric flux? I know this is an easy question, but I've seen different units.
In the following, I use the integral form of Gauss's law: [tex]\oint E\cdot dA=\frac{Q}{\epsilon_0}[/tex]
1. Many physics book and parts of Wikipedia vaguely say that the integral on the left side represents the "electric flux", and thus it has units of "electric field" or "electric flux density" (V/m) multiplied by units of area (m^2), which results in "V-m". No problem.
2. When I look deeper, I see that this is apparently incorrect: E is the "electric field strength" while [tex]\epsilon_0\times E=D[/tex] is the "electric flux density"; hence, "electric flux density" has units of Coulombs/meter^2.
Personally, I like the latter explanation, but which one is officially correct?
If it's the first one, then is the second one wrong?
If it's the second one, then why is it so hard to specifically find a website that gives the units of electric flux instead of flux density?
Thanks!
What is the unit of electric flux? I know this is an easy question, but I've seen different units.
In the following, I use the integral form of Gauss's law: [tex]\oint E\cdot dA=\frac{Q}{\epsilon_0}[/tex]
1. Many physics book and parts of Wikipedia vaguely say that the integral on the left side represents the "electric flux", and thus it has units of "electric field" or "electric flux density" (V/m) multiplied by units of area (m^2), which results in "V-m". No problem.
2. When I look deeper, I see that this is apparently incorrect: E is the "electric field strength" while [tex]\epsilon_0\times E=D[/tex] is the "electric flux density"; hence, "electric flux density" has units of Coulombs/meter^2.
Personally, I like the latter explanation, but which one is officially correct?
If it's the first one, then is the second one wrong?
If it's the second one, then why is it so hard to specifically find a website that gives the units of electric flux instead of flux density?
Thanks!