Why is electric current not a vector quantity?

Current is not a vector quantity although it have both direction and magnitude. The reason behind is it doesn’t obey the laws of vector algebra! And for a quantity to be a conductor it have to obey two conditions.

Is electric current is vector or not?

Note: Current is a vector because it has a magnitude and a direction. Since current doesn’t obey it and it follows algebraic addition, currents are scalar.

Why is an electric field considered a vector quantity?

An electric field is a vector quantity because it has both a magnitude and a direction at every point in space. Its magnitude at any point equals the magnitude of the electric force that a charged object would feel at that point divided by the magnitude of the test charge (E = F/q).

Why is electric current scalar quantity?

Why electric current is a scalar quantity? In the case of electric current, when two currents meet at a junction, the resultant current of these will be an algebraic sum and not the vector sum. Therefore, an electric current is a scalar quantity although it possesses magnitude and direction.

Why current does not obey vector law of addition?

To be precise, current is not a vector quantity. Although current has a specific direction and magnitude, it does not obey the law of vector addition.

Is electric current a scalar quantity or vector quantity?

Electric current is a scalar quantity. Any physical quantity is termed as a vector quantity when the quantity has magnitude and direction.

Why is the electric field a vector quantity while the electric potential is a scalar?

Because it’s derived from a force, it’s a vector field. The electric potential is the electric potential energy of a test charge divided by its charge for every location in space. Because it’s derived from an energy, it’s a scalar field.

Is electric field a scalar quantity?

No,Electric field(i.e it is the ratio of force per unit positive test charge) is not scalar quantity because it depend upon the force ,the direction of electric field is also same as the direction of applied force . As force is vector quantity hence electric field intensity is also vector quantity.

Is electric current a scalar or a vector quantity?

Electric Current Is A Scalar Quantity But It Possesses Magnitude And Direction Why. Electric Current is a Scalar Quantity but it Possesses Magnitude and Direction. Why? Electric current is a scalar quantity. Any physical quantity is termed as a vector quantity when the quantity has magnitude and direction.

What are the factors that determine whether a quantity is vector?

But there are other factors that determine the quantity as vector or scalar quantity. If the physical quantity obeys the laws of vector addition such as triangle law of vector addition and parallelogram law of vector addition, then the quantity is said to be a vector quantity.

What is vector addition with example?

A vector is a physical quantity which has both magnitude as well as direction and follows the laws of vector addition. These examples show that in vector addition the result depends on the magnitude of both the vectors as well as the angle between the two vectors. Now lets consider the example of electric current.

Why is electric field intensity a vector quantity?

Electric field intensity is a vector quantity as we need direction as well as magnitude to express it . It is often referred to as electric field or sometimes only field . So that’s the reason electric field is vector .

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