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VECTORS AND SCALARS

SCALARS QUANTITY

Physical quantities well defined by only magnitude, do not have a direction.

VECTORS QUANTITY

Physical quantities defined by direction and magnitude.

REPRESENTING VECTORS

• An arrowed straight line is used to represents a vector. The arrow indicates the direction,
and the length of the line is proportional to the magnitude.

•A vector with a value of magnitude equal to one is called a unit vector and is represented
by a lowercase alphabet with a “hat” circumflex, i.e. “û“.
• Two vectors are equal if their magnitudes are equal, and their directions are the same.
The vectors do not have to be in the same place.
EXERCISE

Classify the list of physical quantities given below in terms of vectors or scalars on the table.
mass, displacement, work, volume, electric field, voltage, force, linear momentum, velocity,
energy, time

SCALAR VECTOR

VECTOR ADDITION
Graphical method
Tip-to-Tail Rule
• Pace the tail of the second vector at the tip (arrowhead) of the first.
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• The sum vector, or resultant, is the vector whose tail is at the tail of the first vector and
whose tip is at the tip of the second vector.
• Any number of vectors may be added using the tip-to-tail rule.
• Resultant vector = length of the resultant vector multiplied by the scale.
• Use a protractor to measure direction of the resultant vector with respect to any of
the initial vectors or reference to x -axis.

Parallelogram rule

• You should draw them to scale, using a ruler and a protractor to get the lengths and
angles correct.
• The two vectors are placed tip to-tail at the same initial point.
• The two vectors will make an angle from their initial point.
• Then a vector equal to the first and another equal to second are drawn such that the four
vectors form a parallelogram.
• The sum or resultant vector is the diagonal of the parallelogram going from the tails of
the first vectors to the tips of the second.
• Vectors P and Q are added using parallelogram.
• Resultant vector magnitude = length of the resultant vector multiplied by the scale.
• Use a protractor to measure direction of the resultant vector with respect to any of
the initial vectors or x-axis.
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Effect of varying the angle between the vectors on the resultant vector

• Increasing the angle between vector A and vector B decreases resultant vector.
• Resultant vector is maximum when angle between vectors is 1800.
• Resultant vector is minimum when angle between vectors is 00.

EXERCISE
1. Vectors A and B where A=50 N, 30 degree and B = 3.4 N, 110 degree.
Use scale: 1cm = 1N

Resultant force = length of vector R x scale

Direction = angle between x -axis and vector A or angle of vector R with respect to
any vector A or vector B
2. Tshepho walked 50 m west and 30 m south to reach home, use graphically method to
calculate his displacement (hint resultant vector)?
3. Jerry and Tom are pulling a metal ring. Tom pulls with a force of 100 N and Jerry with
a force of 140 N at an angle of 700 to tom. Use graphical method to calculate their
resultant force?
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RESULTANT OF TWO VECTORS USING TRIGONOMETRY.

Triangle Law of Vector Addition

Triangle law of vector addition states that when the two vectors are represented by the two
sides of the triangle, then the third side of the triangle represents the resultant vector of
addition i.e., the third side of the triangle represents both the magnitude and direction
(opposite to the direction of given vectors) of the resultant vector.
• Draw a resultant vector diagram not scale.

Adding Non perpendicular vector

• The two given vectors, to form triangle we arrange these two vectors in such a way that
the vector A head join vector B tail.
• Vector A Head create and angle to vector B Tail.
• Use Law of Cosines to find the magnitude resultant vector R. 𝑹2 = A2 +B2- 2ABcosθ
𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐀 𝐒𝐢𝐧 𝐁
• Use Law of Sines to find the direction. =
𝐚 𝐛

EXAMPLE
1. A vector U has a magnitude of 10 and a direction of 0°. A vector V has a magnitude of
6 and a direction of 50°. Find the direction and magnitude of to the nearest whole values.
(answer = 15, 18o)
Solution: Sketch the vectors.

Translate vector V tail to vector U head and draw the resultant.

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Find the supplementary angle to find an angle of the triangle.

1800 -500 = 1300

Use Law of Cosines to find the magnitude, m, of Law of Cosines

To find the angle the resultant makes with the x-axis,

Use Law of Sines to find the direction, Ѳ, of u + v.

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EXERCISE
1. What is the magnitude and direction of the resultant in the sketch below?

2. What is the magnitude and direction of vector AB?

3. Vector u has a magnitude of 24 and a direction of 0°. Vector v has a magnitude of 40

and a direction of 115°. Find the magnitude and direction of the resultant.

4. Two forces with magnitudes of 15 N and 35 N are applied to an object. The magnitude
of the resultant is 28 N. Find the measurement of the angle between the resultant vector
and the vector of the 15 force to the nearest whole degree. (Answer:
angle=105o)

5. Two forces with magnitudes of 15 N and 35 N and an angle of 40° between them are
applied to an object. Find the magnitude of the resultant vector. (Answer:47 N)
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Adding perpendicular vector

• The two given vectors, to form right triangle we arrange these two vectors in such a way
that the vector A head join vector B tail.
• Vector A and vector B makes 900 angles.
• Use Pythagoreans law to find the magnitude of resultant vector C. 𝐂2 = A2 +B2
𝐁
• Use SOH, CAH, TOA to find the direction. tan θ = 𝐀

Exercise

1. An airplane travel at a velocity of 350Km/h and air mass travelling at 100Km/h across
the airplane. Calculate the resultant velocity of the airplane.
2. Two forces with magnitudes of 15 N and 35 N and an angle of 90° between them are
applied to an object. Find the magnitude of the resultant vector.

Vector Components
Consider a vector in 2D space. Angle θ resolved from the horizontal axis for consistence.

Let Vector A with an angle (θ) on the horizontal x -axis first resolved into two components.
Those are horizontal or x-components (Ax) and vertical or y-components (Ay), given by

Horizontal components being Ax = Acosθ and vertical components being Ay= Asinθ.

Resultant vector A given by R2 = (Ax )2 + (Ay )2

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Exercise
1. A bus travels 23.0 km on a straight road that is 30° north of east.
a. What are the east and north components of its displacement?
b. Calculate its resultant displacement?

a.
Ax=A cosθ Ay= A sinθ

Ax =(23.0 km)cos 30° Ay=(23.0 km)sin 30°

= 19.9 km =11.5 km

R2 = (Ax )2 + (Ay )2

R2 = (19.9)2 + (11.5)2

R = √𝟓𝟐𝟖. 𝟐𝟔

R=23.0km

2. A child pulls a wagon with a 30 N force, at an angle of 400 to the horizontal.

a. Draw vector diagram.
b. Determine the magnitudes of the horizontal and vertical components?

In case there are two or more vectors, all vectors will be broken into their x-y components
since x and y components are independent on each other. All x-components will be added
together, and y-components also added together.

Rx = Ax + Bx and Ry = Ay + By
Therefore, the resultant vector will be R2 = (Rx )2 + (Ry )2
The angle that resultant makes with the x-axis is given by θ = tan-1 (Ry / Rx)
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Components identification using quadrant

To specify the direction of a vector, we need to find which quadrant the vector is in.
• We specify the direction as an angle above or below the positive or negative x-axis.
• Use quadrants to get sign of the component correct.

Example

1. Vector A has magnitude 53.0 m and direction 20.0º north of the x-axis. Vector B has
magnitude 34.0 m and direction 63.0º north of the x-axis. Use analytical methods to
determine the magnitude and direction of R.

Simplify x-components.
Ax =AcosθA = (53)cos(20) = 49.8m and Bx =BcosθB = (34)cos(63) = 15.4m
Rx = Ax + Bx = 49.8 +15.4=65.2m

Simplify y-components.
Ay =AsinθA = (53)sin(20) = 18.1m and By =BsinθB = (34)sin(63) = 30.3m
Ry = Ay+ By= 18.1 + 30.3=48.4m

Magnitude of the resultant R.

R2 = (Rx )2 + (Ry )2
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R2 = (65.2)2 + (48.4)2
R = √𝟔𝟓𝟗𝟑. 𝟔
R=81.2m

The direction of the resultant R.

θ = tan-1 (Ry / Rx)
= tan -1 (48.4/65.2)
= 36.6o

2. Suppose you first walk 12.0 m in a direction west of north and then 20.0 m in a
direction 40.00 south of west.
a. Draw vector diagram.
b. How far are you from your starting point?
c. What is the compass direction of a line connecting your starting point to your final
position?
3. A GPS receiver told you that your home was 15.0 km at a direction of 40° north of west,
but the only path led directly north. If you took that path and walked 10.0 km.
a. Draw vector diagram of the path.
b. How far would you then have to walk to reach your home?
c. What direction would you then have to walk to reach your home?