- #1
aayushgsa
- 20
- 0
Hello,
I am a 15 year old high school student, We were being taught about current, My teacher said its a scalar quantity, I had a doubt on that that since wires bound the charges, we shouldn't say that since wire's orientation doesn't change the magnitude of current, its Scalar quantity. For clarifications I searched some books, that given me a much bigger confusion. Halliday Resnick Walker Fundamentals of Physics, like many other high school physics books, says this too that current is a scalar quantity because it can be added algebraically on page no 683 Chapter 26 section 26-2. On the other hand, David J. Griffiths in his book, Introduction to Electrodynamics Third Edition on page no. 208 , Chapter 5, section 5.1.3 say that current is a vector!. I am quoting its lines: " Current is actually a Vector: I = λv (where λ is charge density and v is the velocity of the particles.) since the path of the flow is dictated by the shape of wire, most people don't bother to display the vectorial character of I explicitly...". Now what to believe, what not to? both the mentioned books are a great deal so they can't be Wrong!. Then what's the truth. Please Clarify me on this.
THANKS in Advance
I am a 15 year old high school student, We were being taught about current, My teacher said its a scalar quantity, I had a doubt on that that since wires bound the charges, we shouldn't say that since wire's orientation doesn't change the magnitude of current, its Scalar quantity. For clarifications I searched some books, that given me a much bigger confusion. Halliday Resnick Walker Fundamentals of Physics, like many other high school physics books, says this too that current is a scalar quantity because it can be added algebraically on page no 683 Chapter 26 section 26-2. On the other hand, David J. Griffiths in his book, Introduction to Electrodynamics Third Edition on page no. 208 , Chapter 5, section 5.1.3 say that current is a vector!. I am quoting its lines: " Current is actually a Vector: I = λv (where λ is charge density and v is the velocity of the particles.) since the path of the flow is dictated by the shape of wire, most people don't bother to display the vectorial character of I explicitly...". Now what to believe, what not to? both the mentioned books are a great deal so they can't be Wrong!. Then what's the truth. Please Clarify me on this.
THANKS in Advance