Question

The direction of the current is taken as
a) Opposite to the direction of flow of current
b) Opposite to the direction of flow of protons
c) Opposite to the direction of flow of electrons
d) All

Answer 1

Hint:The current that we generally talk about that flows in a wire is also called conventional current. An electric current is the rate of flow of electric charge past a given point. The electric current in a wire, where the charge carriers are electrons, is a measure of the quantity of charge passing through any point of the wire. The flow of current in a wire is given by Ohm’s law. Ohm’s law states that the flow of current through a wire under a given potential is directly proportional to the potential applied on the wire.

Complete step by step answer:
a) Since the concept of current was established before the discovery of electrons it was assumed that the current in a conductor was the result of the movement of the positive charge carriers.
b) After the discovery of electrons it was found that the electrons are negatively charged particles that travel from the negative terminal to the positive terminal of the voltage source. So, the actual direction of current would be from negative to positive, as compared to the traditional understanding.
c) But the direction of current was already defined in the scientific community, therefore it is said that the direction of current is opposite to the direction of the flow of electrons. This is also called conventional current.
Therefore the current answer is an option (C).
Additional information:
Current can also be caused by the flow of ions or by the flow of positively charged holes in a lattice. The type of current that most textbooks talk about is called ‘conventional current’. This is because the definition of current was given before the discovery of electrons. After the discovery of electrons, it was found that the current actually flows in the direction opposite to the direction(from the negative terminal to the positive terminal) previously thought by the scientists.

Note:Remember that direction of flow of electrons is always opposite to the direction of flow of current. An electric current is the rate of flow of electric charges. The electric current in a wire, where the charge carriers are electrons, is a measure of the quantity of charge passing through any point of the wire. The flow of current in a wire is given by Ohm’s law. Ohm’s law states that the current through a conductor is directly proportional to the applied voltage across the conductor.