Electricity & MegnetismQuiz Bank
Discuss analogies and differences between Gauss’s law and ampere’s law

Analogies between Gauss’s law and Ampere’s law
- Gauss’s law says the electric flux through a closed surface is proportional to the charge within the surface. Ampere’s law says the line integral of B.ds around a close path is proportional to the current that passes through that path.
- In Gauss’s law, the imaginary and arbitrary closed surface is taken enclosing a charge. In ampere’s law, an imaginary and arbitrary closed curve enclosing current is taken.
- Both laws use the concept of flux the flow of field lines through a surface to determine the field strength.
- They also both relate the integral of the field over a closed geometrical figure to a fundamental constant multiplied by the source of the appropriate field.
Differences between Gauss’s law and Ampere’s law
- Gauss’s law is for electrostatic and Ampere’s law is for magnetism.
- Gauss’s law is used to calculate the electric field by a certain charge configuration while Ampere’s law is used to measure the magnetic field due to current.
- The geometrical figure is a surface for Gauss’s law and a line for Ampere’s.