Which one of the following is a vector quantity?
Reviewed by Dalvoy
UPSC Civil Services preparation
- AMomentumCorrect
- BPressure
- CEnergy
- DWork
Explanation
A vector quantity is a physical quantity that has both magnitude and direction. Momentum is defined as the product of mass and velocity. Since velocity is a vector quantity having a specific direction, momentum also has direction, making it a vector.
On the other hand, pressure, energy, and work are scalar quantities. While pressure involves force, it acts in all directions at a point and does not follow vector addition rules. Energy and work only represent a magnitude or amount of change and do not possess a direction. Therefore, momentum is the only vector quantity among the given options.
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