Original approach to determining the electric field by use of the Gauss’s theorem

This work is a part of the multimedia course in Physics for the foreign students and the students from the Faculty of management of the Technical University-Sofia developed by the author. An original approach to determining the electric field set up by a line of charge using the Gauss’s theorem is presented. A semicircular plastic rod evenly charged with a positive charge is considered. The electric field produced by the charge in the geometric center of the semicircle is calculated. The standard method for calculating of the electric field requires using of differential and integral calculus. The proposed alternative approach based on the use of the Gauss’s theorem allows much faster and easier determination of the electric field using an elementary mathematical apparatus.