Why is the direction of the current shown in each part of Figure\({\rm{24}}{\rm{.6}}\)opposite to the electric field produced by the wire’s charge separation?

Figure 24.6

Magnetic or electromagnetic induction is the process of producing an electromotive force across an electrical conductor in a shifting magnetic field. Michael Faraday discovered induction in\({\rm{1831}}\), which James Clerk Maxwell formally defined as Faraday's law of induction.

The direction of a current is usually chosen to correspond to the direction of motion of a positive charge. When a negative charge current flows in one direction, it behaves exactly like a positive charge current flowing in the other direction. So, in this example, the current is directed towards the positive charge, but we know that an electric field is directed away from a positive charge and toward a negative charge.

Therefore, the electric field is directed away from a positive charge, whereas the current is directed toward it.