what is meant by magnitude?
Magnitude is a property much like volume or area but is generally concerning a vector quantity.
So, I bet you’re asking what is a vector? Well, you have come to the right place: A vector is something that has magnitude and direction.
For example, a vector could be displacement. Now if you’re not someone who is experienced with these terms, let me explain.
Imagine you’re in a race and you’re at the starting line, if you run 100m your displacement is 100m away from that line. Then if you run 120m back your displacement is -20m (as you’re now behind that line). However, displacement is different to distance as distance is not a vector it is scalar. A scalar quantity has magnitude but not direction.
Notice, because in the example you ran backwards, your direction was taken into account when talking about displacement. If we were talking about distance we would say you ran 220m (as you ran 100m + 120m in total, which is the magnitude of the distance travelled) and the direction you were travelling in that time is irrelevant as it is scalar and doesn’t have a direction.
Things such as temperature, volume, area all have magnitude (they are either great or small) but don’t have a direction!
In electricity
The elementary charge, usually denoted as e or sometimes q, is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the magnitude of the electric charge carried by a single electron, which has charge −e. This elementary charge is a fundamental physical constant.
We found a similar question to the one that you posted. Please check it out here.
Magnitude is a property much like volume or area but is generally concerning a vector quantity.
So, I bet you’re asking what is a vector? Well, you have come to the right place: A vector is something that has magnitude and direction.
For example, a vector could be displacement. Now if you’re not someone who is experienced with these terms, let me explain.
Imagine you’re in a race and you’re at the starting line, if you run 100m your displacement is 100m away from that line. Then if you run 120m back your displacement is -20m (as you’re now behind that line). However, displacement is different to distance as distance is not a vector it is scalar. A scalar quantity has magnitude but not direction.
Notice, because in the example you ran backwards, your direction was taken into account when talking about displacement. If we were talking about distance we would say you ran 220m (as you ran 100m + 120m in total, which is the magnitude of the distance travelled) and the direction you were travelling in that time is irrelevant as it is scalar and doesn’t have a direction.
Things such as temperature, volume, area all have magnitude (they are either great or small) but don’t have a direction!
In electricity
The elementary charge, usually denoted as e or sometimes q, is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the magnitude of the electric charge carried by a single electron, which has charge −e. This elementary charge is a fundamental physical constant.
We found a similar question to the one that you posted. Please check it out here.
