Is electric current a scalar or vector quantity? State the standard unit of electric current

Is electric current a scalar or vector quantity? State the standard unit of electric current.

Electric current is referred to as a scalar quantity. It is termed scalar quantity because many factors give us a hint that electric currents do not possess both magnitude and direction. If it had possessed both magnitude and direction then it would have been termed as a vector quantity. It is said that when at a point, two currents come together then the current which will be the result of this meeting will be the algebraic sum. 

A scalar quantity is referred to as the physical quantity which possesses magnitude. Some of the examples of scalar quantities are mass, electric current, speed, temperature, density, etc. on the other hand vector quantity can be defined as the physical quantity which possesses magnitude as well as direction. Some of the examples of vector quantity are force, weight, momentum, displacement, etc.

In vector quantities, they have different types of rules which need to be applied. This also proves that the electric current is a scalar quantity and not a vector quantity. Currents have both magnitude and direction which should make them vectors but they are not termed as a vector because they do not follow the law of additions of vectors. 

The standard unit of electric current is termed as Ampere and its work is to calculate the flow of the electric charge which is spread over the surface at the rate of one coulomb per second. The formula of the electric current is:

• I = V/R 

Here, I = electric current, V refers to the voltage and R refers to the resistance of the material.