Saturday, May 30, 2009

is current really a vector??

OOps it should have been "is current really a scalar??"

it is generally considererd that current is a scalar qty because it doenst obey vector addn rules
but griffiths in his electrodynamics book argues u cant claim to be so esp when u go to a surface current or a volume current
the magnetic field produced by a surface current has a certain directional rel;ationship with that of the current
tell me who's right and who's wrong

where as i studied electric current is neither a scalar nor a vector quantity.Current in a wire when flowing has both magnitude as well as direction but since it doesnt obbey tringular rule . Also since it gives us the magnitude of charge flowing electrons per unit time is not related to direction at all

Current....in a sense can be argued to be a vector quantity. Afterall all, it's caused by a vector (magnetic/electric field)......the primarity mode of current is a vector (drift velocity of electrons).....but I'd say it's not a vector.......It basically has only 2 directions to flow in.....so naming the two directions + and - should abe about sufficent

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