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Vectors and Scalars

School notes about vectors

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lesego08tladi
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34 views17 pages

Vectors and Scalars

School notes about vectors

Uploaded by

lesego08tladi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

All physical quantities (measurable quantities) can

be divided into 2 groups:


Scalars & Vectors
A vector quantity can be represented by an arrow,
drawn to scale – with the arrow head indicating
the direction of the vector.
10 m due East can thus be represented as follows:
Scale 1 cm = 1 m.

10 m East (Magnitude = size)


(Magnitude unit direction)

1
• Scalar
–A physical quantity that has only a
magnitude and a unit (no direction).
• Vector
–A physical quantity with a magnitude,
unit and direction.
• Resultant
–The single vector that will have the
same effect as the original vectors
taken together.
Resultant force

2
Examples of Scalars and vectors:
Scalars & vectors

Scalars: Vectors:
Distance Displacement
Mass Weight
Speed Velocity
Time Acceleration
Work Momentum 3
There are 3 different ways to represent
the direction of a vector quantity.
1. Compass
N
v1
W 300 North of East
E
v2
S 300 East of South
4
2 Bearings.
This is used in the navigation of planes
and ships. North is given the value of a
bearing of 00, East is 900, South 1800 and
West is 2700.
N 00
v1
270 0 90 0 Bearing of 60 0

v2
Bearing of 2100 1800 Finding a bearing
5
3 Direction of a vector relative to another vector:

B B B
A A
A

In each of the above cases, vector A


is at 300 to vector B.
N.B. The direction of a vector is always
measured at the tail of the vector. 6
• Definitions
• Distance (or path length):
–The actual distance or path length
covered by an object.
• Displacement:
–The magnitude and direction of a
straight line drawn from the starting
point to the end-point of motion.
Distance vs displacement
7
A B

Straight line AB = Displacement, say 20 m due East.


Dotted line AB = Distance or path length actually
taken to get from A to B, say
30 m. (no specific direction).

8
Speed is the rate at which distance is
covered.
Speed = distance v = s/t unit: m.s-1
time
Velocity is the rate at which displacement is
covered.
Velocity = displacement v = s/t unit: m.s-1
time
Distance, displacement, speed & velocity 9
A man walks 10 m East and then a further
15 m East. Find his resultant displacement.
V1 = 10 m East V2 = 15 m East

Resultant R = 25 m East
A dog walks 15 m West and then 5 m East.
Find it’s displacement.
15 m West
Vector addition
5 m East R = 10 m West
10
When vectors are not linear (in a straight line), we
need to use other methods for vector addition.

• Triangle method (2 vectors only)


–Also called the “tail to head
method”. The magnitude and
direction of the resultant is
obtained by drawing a straight
line from the tail of the first vector
to the head of the second vector.
11
Triangle method: (vectors drawn head to tail)
Vectors
V2

V1
Resultant
Resultant is the effective value of the two
vectors taken together – from the tail of the
first to the head of the second vector. 12
• Polygon method
–Vectors are added, as in the
triangle method, head to tail.

–This method is only used if there


are more than 2 vectors.

13
v1
v5 v2
Polygon method: Head to tail
v4 v3
V2
V3
V1

V4
V5
Resultant

Polygon method of vector addition 14


• Parallelogram method
–Taking their magnitude and direction into
account, two vectors are drawn from the
same point. (Tail to tail method)

–The parallelogram is completed by drawing


dotted construction lines. The resultant is
then the diagonal which is also drawn from
the same point – the tail of the two vectors.
Adding vectors
15
Parallelogram Method: (vectors drawn tail to tail)

Construction lines
V1

V2 Resultant
Vector addition & subtraction

Vectors & scalars


16
To find the length of a side by R F2
calculation, use Pythagoras: θ

F1
R2 = (F1 )2 + (F2 )2 Vector components

To find the length of a side or the size of an


angle, use simple trigonometric ratios of
Sin θ cos θ or tan θ

Sin θ = opposite side i.e. sin θ = F2/F1 etc


adjacent side
Now do some sample problems. 17

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