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Scalar and Vectors

Scalars are quantities that have magnitude but no direction, such as temperature, time, mass, etc. Vectors have both magnitude and direction, represented by an arrow. There are two ways to specify a vector: by magnitude and direction, or by x and y components. The magnitude of a vector is found using the Pythagorean theorem, and its direction can be found using tangent. Vectors can be added and subtracted using graphical methods like the triangle method. Properties of vectors include equality, negatives, scalar multiplication, addition, subtraction, and distribution. Dot and cross products are ways to combine vectors, with dot products yielding a scalar and cross products yielding a new vector.

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Muhammad Afzal
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
52 views32 pages

Scalar and Vectors

Scalars are quantities that have magnitude but no direction, such as temperature, time, mass, etc. Vectors have both magnitude and direction, represented by an arrow. There are two ways to specify a vector: by magnitude and direction, or by x and y components. The magnitude of a vector is found using the Pythagorean theorem, and its direction can be found using tangent. Vectors can be added and subtracted using graphical methods like the triangle method. Properties of vectors include equality, negatives, scalar multiplication, addition, subtraction, and distribution. Dot and cross products are ways to combine vectors, with dot products yielding a scalar and cross products yielding a new vector.

Uploaded by

Muhammad Afzal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Scalars

Scalars are quantities which have


magnitude without direction

Examples of scalars
• temperature • time
• mass • amount
• kinetic energy • density
• charge
Vector
A vector is a quantity that has both
magnitude (size) and direction

it is represented by an arrow whereby


- the length of the arrow is the magnitude, and
– the arrow itself indicates the direction

The symbol for a vector is a letter


A
with an arrow over it
Two ways to specify a vector
y
It is either given by A A
• a magnitude A, and θ

•a direction θ x

Orit is given in the


x and y components as y Ax A
• Ax Ay
• Ay x
y Ax A Ax = Acosθ
A Ay
θ Ay = A sin θ
x

The magnitude (length) of A is found by using the


Pythagorean Theorem

│A │ =√ ( Ax+Ay) 2 2
The length of a
vector
clearly does not
depend on its directi
y Ax A
A Ay
θ
x

The direction of A can be stated as

tan θ = Ay / Ax

θ =tan-1(Ay / Ax)
Some Properties of Vectors
Equality of Two Vectors

Two vectors A and B may be defined to be


equalif they have the same magnitudeand
point in the same directions. i.e. A = B
A
A B A B

B
Negative of a Vector

The negative of vector A is defined as giving


thevector sum of zero value when added to A .
Thatis, A + (- A) = 0. The vector A and -A
havethe same magnitude but are in opposite
directions.
A

-A
Scalar Multiplication
The multiplication of a vector A
by a scalar α
- will result in a vector B

B = αA
- whereby the magnitude is changed
but not the direction
• Do flip the direction if α is negative
B = αA

If α = 0, therefore B = α A = 0, which
isalso known as a zero vector
β(αA) = αβA = α(βA)

(β+α)A = αA + βA

Example
Vector Addition
The addition of two vectors A and B
- will result in a third vector C called the resultant

C = A+B
Geometrically (triangle method of addition)
• put the tail-end of B at the top-end of A
• C connects the tail-end of A to the C
top-end of B B

We can arrange the vectors as we like, as A


long as we maintain their length and direction Example
More than two vectors?

x4
Σxi x5
x3

x1 x2 Σxi = x1 + x2+x3+x4+x5

Example
Vector Subtraction
Equivalent to adding the negative vector

C= A B
C = A + (-B) B
A

-B

Example
Rules of Vector Addition
commutative

A+B=B+A

B A

A B
associative

(A + B) + C = A + (B + C)

B
B
B+C C
A A+B C A

A + (B + C)
(A + B) + C
distributive

m(A + B) = mA + mB

mB

B
m(A+B)
A+B mA
A
Parallelogram method of addition
(tailtotail)

A A+B

The magnitude of the resultant depends on


the relative directions of the vectors
Unit Vectors
a vector whose magnitude is 1 and
dimensionless
the magnitude of each unit vector equals
aunity; that is, │i│= │j│= │k│= 1

and defined as
i a unit vector pointing in the x direction
j a unit vector pointing in the y direction
k a unit vector pointing in the z direction
Useful examples for the Cartesian
unit vectors [ i, j, k ]
- they point in the direction of the
x,y and z axes respectively
y

i x
k
z
Component of a Vector in 2-D

vector A can be resolved into two components


Ax and A y
y- axis

A
Ay
θ
x-axis
Ax
A = Ax + Ay
The component of A are
y- axis
│Ax│ = Ax = A cos θ

│Ay│ = Ay = A sin θ A
Ay
θ
Themagnitude of A
A = √Ax2 + Ay 2 Ax x-axis

The direction of A
tan θ = Ay / Ax
θ =tan-1(Ay / Ax)
Example
The unit vector notation for the vector A
is written
A = Axi + Ayj
y- axis

Ay
A
j
θ

i Ax x- axis

Example
Component of a Vector in 3-D

vector A can be resolved into three components


A , A and A
x y z
z- axis
Az
A= Axi + Ayj + Azk
k A

j Ay y-axis
i
Ax
x- axis
if
A = Axi + Ayj + Azk
B = Bxi + Byj + Bzk
A + B = C sum of the vectors A and B can
then be obtained as vector C
C = (Axi + Ayj + Azk) + (Bxi + Byj + Bzk)

C = (Ax + Bx)i+ (Ay + By)j + (Az + Bz)k


C = Cxi + Cyj + Czk Example
Dot product (scalar) of two vectors

Thedefinition:
A
A· B= │A││B │cos θ
θ
B
Dot product (scalar product) properties:
if θ = 900 (normal vectors) then the dot
product is zero

|A· B| = AB cos 90 = 0 and i · j = j · k = i · k = 0

if θ = 00 (parallel vectors) it gets its maximum


value of 1

|A · B| = AB cos 0 = and
1 i · j = j · k = i ·k = 1
the dot product is commutative

A+B=B+A

Use the distributive law to evaluate the dot product


ifthe components are known

A · B = (Axi + Ayj + Azk) · (Bxi + Byj + Bzk)


A. B = (AxBx) i.i + (AyBy) j.j + (AzBz) k.k
A . B = AxBx + AyBy + AzBz
Example
Cross product (vector) of two vectors
The magnitude of the cross product given by

│C │=│A x B│ = │A││B │sin θ C B

θ
the vector product creates a new vector
A
this vector is normal to the plane defined
the by
original vectors and its direction is found by
right hand rule
Cross product (vector product) properties:
if θ = 00 (parallel vectors) then the cross
product is zero

|Ax B| = AB sin 0 = 0and i x i = j x j = k x k = 0

if θ = 900 (normal vectors) it gets its maximum


value

|A x B| = AB sin 90 =and
1 ixi=jxj=kxk=1
the relationship between vectors i , j and k can
be described as

ixj =-jxi =k
jxk=-kxj=i
kxi=-ixk=j

Example
Measurement and Error
THE END
THANK YOU

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