Assertion (A): Electric current has a direction as well as a magnitude, but it is not a vector quantity.
Reason (R): Currents do not obey the law of vector addition.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
(A) Electric current has a direction as well as a magnitude, but it is not a vector quantity. — True. A current has a size (in amperes) and a direction of flow along the wire. Circuit diagrams show this direction with an arrow. Still, current is a scalar.
(R) Currents do not obey the law of vector addition. — True. At a junction, currents add as plain numbers (the junction rule). The angles between the wires do not matter. Currents are never added by the triangle or parallelogram law.
Why R explains A?
A quantity is a vector only if it has magnitude and direction and obeys the law of vector addition.
Current has a direction but fails the second condition, as R states. Hence it is a scalar, and R is the correct explanation of A.
NCERT (2026-27):
Points to Ponder – “1. Current is a scalar although we represent current with an arrow. Currents do not obey the law of vector addition. That current is a scalar also follows from it’s definition.”