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Current is a scalar quantity. In Watt-less current, we divide current into components like vectors. Moreover, when AC current passes through inductors or capacitors, we put a vector sign over current. Can anyone please elaborate?

user121330
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Mandeep Panesar
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  • Well, not sure why you are sure that current is a scalar quantity. I may have forgotten undergraduate physics course, but as far as I know, one of the definitions of the current is $\vec{I} = \rho \vec{v}$, where $\rho$ is the charge density and $\vec{v}$ is the velocity of the charge drift. Check your phenomenology. – MsTais Aug 04 '17 at 14:14
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    @MsTais https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90995/why-is-current-a-scalar-quantity/91000 – Jordan Abbott Aug 04 '17 at 14:15
  • Oh, ok, my bad... What I was referring to is current density. Thanks @CooperCape – MsTais Aug 04 '17 at 14:52

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In spatial terms current is a scalar. It is the dot product of current density and orientated area.

In ac theory, current may be treated as a vector, because its magnitude and phase can be treated as a vector which rotates continuously in an abstract 'space', not in the real space that we inhabit. It is a mathematical device.

Philip Wood
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