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Up: Gauss' Law Previous: The Line Source

The Plane Source

Note the interesting trend: a zero-dimensional distribution (a point) produces a field that drops off as  r-2,  while a one-dimensional distribution (a line) produces a field that drops off as  r-1.  We have to be tempted to see if a two-dimensional distribution (a plane) will give us a field that drops off as  r0  -- i.e. which does not drop off at all with the distance from the plane, but remains constant throughout space. This application of GAUSS' LAW is a straightforward analogy to the other two, and can be worked out easily by the reader.       ;-)



Jess H. Brewer
2000-02-22