---
title: "Three long, straight conducting wires meet at a single junction J in a direct-current circuit, as shown in the diagram. Wire 1 carries a steady current of \\(5.0\\text{ A}\\) directed toward the junction, and Wire 2 carries a steady current of \\(2.0\\text{ A}\\) directed away from the junction. What are the magnitude and direction of the current in Wire 3?"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/120385/"
date_modified: "2026-08-23T04:34:25+00:00"
---

# Three long, straight conducting wires meet at a single junction J in a direct-current circuit, as shown in the diagram. Wire 1 carries a steady current of \(5.0\text{ A}\) directed toward the junction, and Wire 2 carries a steady current of \(2.0\text{ A}\) directed away from the junction. What are the magnitude and direction of the current in Wire 3?

Three long, straight conducting wires meet at a single junction J in a direct-current circuit, as shown in the diagram. Wire 1 carries a steady current of \(5.0\text{ A}\) directed toward the junction, and Wire 2 carries a steady current of \(2.0\text{ A}\) directed away from the junction. What are the magnitude and direction of the current in Wire 3?

![A schematic diagram showing three solid lines representing conducting wires meeting at a central black dot labeled J. Wire 1 extends horizontally from the left to junction J, with an arrow on the wire pointing rightward toward J, labeled \(I_1 = 5.0\text{ A}\). Wire 2 extends diagonally toward the upper right away from junction J, with an arrow pointing upward and rightward along the line, labeled \(I_2 = 2.0\text{ A}\). Wire 3 extends diagonally toward the lower right away from junction J, with no directional arrow, labeled Wire 3. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.](https://nerd-notes.com/wp-content/uploads/ubq-frq-generated/stem-fig-1-1787459665-bSVcIR.jpg)

- **A.** Magnitude: \(7.0\text{ A}\); Direction: Toward the junction
- **B.** Magnitude: \(7.0\text{ A}\); Direction: Away from the junction
- **C.** Magnitude: \(3.0\text{ A}\); Direction: Away from the junction
- **D.** Magnitude: \(3.0\text{ A}\); Direction: Toward the junction

*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/120385/*