Question

A total charge of $5.0C$ passes through a piece of equipment during a pulse of current lasting $10ms$. The average current during the pulse is
(A) $50A$
(B) $125A$
(C) $500A$
(D) $250A$

Answer 1

Hint
The current that passes through a wire can be calculated as the amount of charge that flows through the wire per second. So the current through the equipment will be the charge divided by the time.
Formula Used: In this solution we will be using the following formula,
$I = \dfrac{q}{t}$
where $I$ is the current, $q$ is the charge and $t$ is the time through which the charge flows.

Complete step by step answer
Electric current is defined as the stream of charged particles like electrons or ions flowing through an electric conductor or in space. We consider the direction of current flow to be opposite to that of the flow of electrons in a wire or electronic equipment.
The amount of current flowing through a certain area in time is given by the amount of charge flowing per unit time through that area.
So the amount of current in the piece of equipment as asked in the question will be given by the charge flowing through the equipment divided by the time pulse.
So in the question we are provided charge as, $q = 5.0C$ and the time pulse is given by, $t = 10ms$. We need to convert the unit of time to S.I. unit as,
$t = 10 \times {10^{ - 3}}s$
Therefore, the current is given by,
$I = \dfrac{q}{t}$
Substituting the values we get,
$I = \dfrac{5}{{10 \times {{10}^{ - 3}}}}$
This gives us,
$I = \dfrac{5}{{{{10}^{ - 2}}}}$
Hence on doing the calculation we get,
$I = 5 \times 100 = 500A$
So the current through the piece of equipment will be $I = 500A$.
Therefore, the correct answer is option (C).

Note
The SI unit of electric current is given by ampere $\left( A \right)$ which is the flow of 1 coulomb charge per second through an area. It can be measured in a circuit with the help of an ammeter or a galvanometer.