Gauss's law Formulated by Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), a German Mathematician. Provide a means in determining the electric field or electric field intensity as produced by charge (point or distributed). Since Coulombs Law is already popular in point charges, Gauss's Law is more useful in distributed charges specially if it is symmetrically distributed in a closed system, such as charges in long wire or in a relatively infinite plane. Electric field E for uniformly distributed system Charge distribution Point of Electric Field Figure interest Charge q distributed outside sphere; 1 on the surface of a r >R E = AnEO 12 conducting with radius R inside sphere: E=0 r