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The source of magnetic field is ______ and source of electric field is ______.

Asked in GUJCET 2020 · Biot-Savart law and current element

Answer: (4) vector, scalar

Step-by-step solution

Idea: look at what sits in the numerator of each field law.

Biot-Savart law: d⃗B=(μ₀)/(4π)(I d⃗l×̂r)/(r²) — the source is the current element I d⃗l, which points along the wire, so it is a vector.

Coulomb's law: ⃗E=1/(4πε₀)q/(r²)̂r — the source is the charge q, a scalar.

So the magnetic field has a vector source and the electric field a scalar one.

Why the other options are wrong

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