Question

With respect to direction of electric current in a conducting wire, which of the following is true
(A) In the direction of negatively charged particles but opposite to the positively charged particles
(B) In the direction of motion of electron
(C) Opposite to the direction of motion of electrons
(D) In the direction opposite to the motion of positively charged particles

Answer 1

Hint: In a conductor, the positive charges remain stationary, while negative charges ( electrons ) can move freely.

Complete step by step solution:
When current flows through a conducting wire, the positive charges in the wire do not leave their position, in essence, they remain stationary. While the negative charges, i.e. electrons flow in the wire. Current is defined as the rate of flow of positive charge, when the positive charges are stationary, the electrons flowing in any direction can also be viewed as flow of positive charge in the opposite direction.

Hence the direction of flow of current is the direction opposite to the flow of electrons

Therefore, the correct answer to the question is option : C

Additional information: In this question, the term conducting wire was specifically mentioned. If the question was about semiconductor then positive charge carriers (called holes) flow in the semiconductor along with electrons. So in that case, the direction of current is defined as the direction of flow of positive charge carriers and opposite to the flow of negative charge carriers.

Note: The electrons experience force in a given direction due to presence of electric field in the opposite direction, but not all electrons flow in the direction of this force, because electrons have velocities in different directions at room temperature. But as a cloud, a net negative charge flows in the direction opposite to the electric field. And the direction of current is opposite to the direction of flow of this net negative charge.