Determination of electric force between point charges
Situation where Coulomb's law fails
Determination of electric field due to symmetric charge distributions
Determining electric potential due to symmetric charge distributions
Solution
The electric flux through an area is defined as the electric field multiplied by the area of the surface projected in a plane perpendicular to the field. Gauss's Law is a general law applying to any closed surface. It is an important tool since it permits the assessment of the amount of enclosed charge by mapping the field on a surface outside the charge distribution. For geometries of sufficient symmetry, it simplifies the calculation of the electric field.