11 lines
762 B
Markdown
11 lines
762 B
Markdown
# Flux
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Flux refers to a flow of matter or energy. Examples include water through a pipe, blood through veins, or air over an airplane's wing.
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While there's nothing directly *flowing* in an electric field, the term flux is used to describe the total strength of a field.
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In the simplest case with a uniform field of magnitude $E$ perpendicular to an area $A$, the flux is described as follows:
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$$ \Phi = EA$$
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- $E$ refers to the amplitude
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- $A$ refers to the area
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If the area is tilted relative to the field, then the strength of the field is reduced by a factor of $\cos \theta$, where $\theta$ is the angle between the electric field $\vec{E}$ and a vector $\vec{A}$ that's normal to the surface. This generalizes our flux equation to $\Phi = EA\cos\theta$ |