An electric field is given by . The electric flux through a surface area lying in the -plane (in SI units) is:
- A
- B
- C
- D
An electric field is given by . The electric flux through a surface area lying in the -plane (in SI units) is:
Correct answer:C
Standard Method
Given: and .
Find: Electric flux through the given surface.
Electric flux is given by the dot product:
Since the surface lies in the -plane, its area vector is along . Therefore,
Only the components along the same direction contribute in the dot product, so
Therefore, the electric flux through the surface is . The correct option is C.
Using the magnitude of the entire electric field vector instead of taking the dot product is incorrect, because flux depends only on the component normal to the surface. Use the area vector direction and compute .
Assuming the area vector lies in the -plane is wrong, because the area vector is always perpendicular to the surface. For a surface in the -plane, the area vector is along or .
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