Applied Physics/Applied Physics

&
Electromechanical Fundamentals

(MED & MTS/CED)

SCALARS
&
VECTORS
 What
is Scalar?
A scalar is a physical quantity that
has only a magnitude.
Examples:
• Mass • Temperature
• Length • Volume
• Time • Density
 What
is Vector?
Vector in physics

• If you have ever given directions such as “Go five blocks down this street
and then hang a left,” you have used the language of vectors. In fact,
navigation of any sort is based on vectors, but physics and engineering
also need vectors in special ways to explain phenomena involving
rotation and magnetic forces, which we get to in later lectures
• A particle moving along a straight line can move in only two directions.
We can take its motion to be positive in one of these directions and
negative in the other. For a particle moving in three dimensions,
however, a plus sign or minus sign is no longer enough to indicate a
direction. Instead, we must use a vector.
A vector is a physical quantity that has
both a magnitude and a direction.
Examples:
• Position • Acceleration
• Displacement • Momentum
• Velocity • Force
 Vector
Addition
(Geometrical Method)
 Triangle Law

⃗
C

⃗
B
⃗
A
⃗
B
⃗
A
= +
 Parallelogram Law

⃗
B ⃗
A
⃗
C
⃗
A ⃗
B
⃗
A ⃗
B
⃗
A ⃗
B = +
 Polygon Law
⃗
A ⃗
B
⃗
A
⃗
D ⃗
⃗
E C
⃗
B
⃗
D
⃗
C = + + +
 Vector
Addition
(Analytical Method)
 Case I – Vectors are parallel ()
⃗
P +¿ ⃗
Q ¿ ⃗
R

Magnitude: Direction:
R=√ P +2 PQ cos 0 ° +Q
2 2

R=√ P +2 PQ +Q
2 2

R =√ ( P +Q )2

R=P+Q
 Case II – Vectors are perpendicular ()
⃗
R
⃗
P +¿ ⃗
Q ¿ α
⃗
Q
⃗
P
Magnitude: Direction:
R=√ P +2 PQ cos9 0 °+Q
2 2

R =√ P +0 +Q
2 2

R=√ P +Q2 2 α =tan −1

( )
Q
P
 Case III – Vectors are anti-parallel ()
⃗
P − ⃗
Q ¿ ⃗
R

Magnitude: Direction:
R=√ P +2 PQ cos 18 0 ° +Q
2 2

R=√ P −2 PQ +Q
2 2

R =√ ( P − Q )2 If P>Q :
R=P −Q If P<Q :
 Unit vectors
A unit vector is a vector that has a magnitude of
exactly
1 and drawn in the direction of given vector.
⃗
A
^
𝐴

• It lacks both dimension and unit.

• Its only purpose is to specify a direction in
space.
 Unit vectors
• A given vector can be expressed as a
product of its magnitude and a unit vector.
• For example may be represented as,

⃗ ^
A= A 𝐴
= magnitude of
= unit vector along
 Cartesian unit vectors
𝑦
−𝑧
^
𝑗
-
-
−𝑥 ^ 𝑥
^ 𝑖
𝑘
-
𝑧
−𝑦
 Resolution of a Vector
It is the process of splitting a vector into two or more
vectors in such a way that their combined effect is same as
that of
the given vector.
𝑛

⃗
A
⃗
A𝑛
𝑡
⃗
A𝑡
Rectangular Components of 2D Vectors

𝑦
⃗
A A 𝑦 ^𝑗

⃗
A𝑦 ⃗
A θ
A 𝑥 𝑖^
θ 𝑥
O ⃗ ⃗ ^ A ^𝑗
A𝑥 A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ 𝑦
Rectangular Components of 2D Vectors

⇒ A 𝑦 = A sin θ
A A𝑦
θ
A𝑥 ⇒ A 𝑥 = A cos θ
Magnitude & direction from components

⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 Magnitude:
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ 𝑦

A=√ A + A 2
𝑥
2
𝑦
A𝑦 A Direction:

θ
A𝑥
θ= tan
−1
( )
A𝑦
A𝑥
Rectangular Components of 3D Vectors

𝑦 ⃗ ⃗ ′ ⃗
A= A + A 𝑦
⃗ ⃗
⃗
A𝑦
A A =⃗
A 𝑥+ ⃗
A 𝑧+ ⃗
A𝑦
⃗
A𝑥 ⃗
A =⃗
A 𝑥+ ⃗
A 𝑦+⃗
A𝑧
𝑥
⃗
A𝑧
⃗
A
′
⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 + A 𝑘^
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+
𝑧 𝑦 𝑧
Rectangular Components of 3D Vectors
𝑦

𝛼
𝑥
A𝑥
A 𝑥 = A cos 𝛼
𝑧
Rectangular Components of 3D Vectors
𝑦

A𝑦
𝛽A
𝑥
A 𝑦 = A cos 𝛽
𝑧
Rectangular Components of 3D Vectors
𝑦

𝛾 A
𝑥
A𝑧
A 𝑧 = A cos 𝛾
𝑧
Magnitude & direction from components
⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 + A 𝑘^
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ Magnitude:
𝑦 𝑧

A𝑦 A=√ A + A + A
2
𝑥
2
𝑦
2
𝑧
A Direction:

𝛽
𝛾 𝛼
𝛼 =cos
−1
( )
A𝑥
A
𝛽= cos
−1 A𝑦
A ( )
A𝑥
A𝑧 𝛾 =cos
−1
( )
A𝑧
A
 Adding vectors by components
Let us have
⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 + A 𝑘^
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ 𝑦 𝑧

⃗ =B 𝑖+
B ^ B ^𝑗 + B 𝑘 ^
𝑥 𝑦 𝑧

t hen

R 𝑦 =( A ¿ ¿ 𝑦+B 𝑦 )¿
Multiplying
vectors
 Multiplying a vector by a scalar

• If we multiply a vector by a scalar s, we get

a new vector.

• Its magnitude is the product of the

magnitude of and the absolute value of s.

• Its direction is the direction of if s is positive

but the opposite direction if s is negative.
 Multiplying a vector by a scalar
If s is positive:
⃗
A
2⃗
A
If s is negative:
⃗
A
−3 ⃗
A
 Multiplying a vector by a vector

• There are two ways to multiply a vector by

a vector:

• The first way produces a scalar quantity and

called as scalar product (dot product).

• The second way produces a vector quantity

and called as vector product (cross
product).
Scalar product

⃗
A

θ ⃗
B
 Examples of scalar product

⃗ ∙ s⃗
W =F ⃗∙⃗
P =F v

W = work P =
done power
F = force F = force
s = v =
displacement velocity
Geometrical meaning of Scalar dot product

A dot product can be regarded as the

product of two quantities:

1.The magnitude of one of the vectors

2.The scalar component of the second

vector along the direction of the first
vector
Geometrical meaning of Scalar product

A
s θ
c o A
B θ
θ A cos θ B
B
 Properties of Scalar product

1
The scalar product is commutative.
 Properties of Scalar product

2
The scalar product is distributive over
addition.

⃗ ( ⃗ ⃗ ) ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗
A ∙ B + C = A ∙ B+ A ∙ C
 Properties of Scalar product

3
The scalar product of two perpendicular
vectors is zero.

⃗
A∙⃗
B=0
 Properties of Scalar product

4
The scalar product of two parallel vectors
is maximum positive.

⃗
A∙⃗
B= A B
 Properties of Scalar product

5
The scalar product of two anti-parallel
vectors is maximum negative.

⃗
A∙⃗
B=− A B
 Properties of Scalar product

6
The scalar product of a vector with itself
is equal to the square of its magnitude.

⃗ ⃗
A ∙ A= A
2
 Properties of Scalar product

7
The scalar product of two same unit vectors is
one and two different unit vectors is zero.
^𝑖 ∙ 𝑖=
^ ^𝑗 ∙ ^𝑗=𝑘
^ ∙ 𝑘=(1)(1)
^ cos 0 °=1
^𝑖 ∙ ^𝑗= ^𝑗 ∙ 𝑘=
^ 𝑘∙
^ 𝑖=(1)(1)
^ cos 9 0 °=0
Calculating scalar product using component
Let us have
⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 + A 𝑘^
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ 𝑦 𝑧
^ B ^𝑗 + B 𝑘
⃗ =B𝑥 𝑖+
B ^
𝑦 𝑧
t hen

⃗
A∙⃗
B= A 𝑥 B 𝑥 + A 𝑦 B 𝑦 + A 𝑧 B 𝑧
 Vector product

⃗
A

θ ⃗
B

⃗
A×⃗ ^ =⃗
B= A B sin θ 𝑛 C
 Right hand rule

⃗
C

⃗
A
θ
⃗
B
 Examples of vector product

τ⃗ = ⃗r × ⃗
F ⃗
L =⃗r × ⃗p
⃗ ^
L =r p sin θ 𝑛
= L = angular
torque momentum
r = r = position
position
F = force p = linear
momentum
Geometrical meaning of Vector product

A A

A sin θ
Bs
in

θ θ
θ

B B
= Area of parallelogram made by two vectors
 Properties of Vector product

1
The vector product is anti-commutative.
 Properties of Vector product

2
The vector product is distributive over
addition.

⃗ ( ⃗ ⃗ ) ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗
A × B+ C = A × B+ A × C
 Properties of Vector product

3
The magnitude of the vector product of two
perpendicular vectors is maximum.

|⃗ B|= A B
A×⃗
 Properties of Vector product

4
The vector product of two parallel vectors
is a null vector.

⃗
A×⃗
B=0⃗
 Properties of Vector product

5
The vector product of two anti-parallel
vectors is a null vector.

⃗
A×⃗ ⃗
B=0
 Properties of Vector product

6
The vector product of a vector with itself
is a null vector.

⃗
A×⃗
A =0⃗
 Properties of Vector product

7
The vector product of two same unit
vectors is a null vector.
^𝑖 × 𝑖=
^ ^𝑗 × ^𝑗=𝑘^ × 𝑘
^
^ ⃗
¿ (1)(1)sin 0 ° 𝑛 =0
 Properties of Vector product

8
The vector product of two different unit
vectors is a third unit vector.
𝑖^ × ^𝑗=𝑘
^ ^𝑗 × 𝑖=−
^ ^
𝑘
^𝑗 × 𝑘=
^ 𝑖^ ^ ^
𝑘× 𝑗=− 𝑖 ^
^ ^
𝑘 × 𝑖= 𝑗^ ^𝑖 × 𝑘=−
^ ^𝑗
Aid to memory
alculating vector product using component
Let us have
⃗ ^ A ^𝑗 + A 𝑘^
A =A 𝑥 𝑖+ 𝑦 𝑧
^ B ^𝑗 + B 𝑘
⃗ =B𝑥 𝑖+
B ^
𝑦 𝑧
t hen
alculating vector product using component

| |
^𝑖 ^𝑗 ^
𝑘
⃗
A×⃗
B= A 𝑥 A𝑦 A𝑧
B𝑥 B𝑦 B𝑧
Thank
you