Question

Electric flux is a scalar quantity, but its value can be positive, negative, or zero. What does this depend on?

Options

• The material composition of the surface

• The field's orientation relative to the chosen area vector

• Only the surface area

• Only the magnitude of the electric field

Answer 1

Although flux is a scalar (the result of a dot product), it can take any sign depending on the orientation of the field relative to the area vector. When \[\vec{E}\] and \[\vec{A}\] point in similar directions, flux is positive; when opposite, flux is negative; when perpendicular, flux is zero.