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Vector Projection and Dot Product Analysis

This section discusses force projections and the angle between vectors. It explains that the projection of a force F in the direction of a unit vector n is equal to F dot n. It also provides equations for calculating the angle between two vectors using the dot product and cosine formula. Specifically, the angle between vectors F and n is the inverse cosine of their dot product over the magnitude of F.

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10 views1 page

Vector Projection and Dot Product Analysis

This section discusses force projections and the angle between vectors. It explains that the projection of a force F in the direction of a unit vector n is equal to F dot n. It also provides equations for calculating the angle between two vectors using the dot product and cosine formula. Specifically, the angle between vectors F and n is the inverse cosine of their dot product over the magnitude of F.

Uploaded by

husnawati
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

68 Chapter 2 Force Systems

In more general terms, if n is a unit vector in a specified direction,


the projection of F in the n-direction, Fig. 2/19b, has the magnitude
Fn  F 䡠 n. If we want to express the projection in the n-direction as a
vector quantity, then we multiply its scalar component, expressed by
F 䡠 n, by the unit vector n to give Fn  (F 䡠 n)n. We may write this as
Fn  F 䡠 nn without ambiguity because the term nn is not defined, and
so the complete expression cannot be misinterpreted as F 䡠 (nn).
If the direction cosines of n are , , and , then we may write n in
vector component form like any other vector as

n  i  j  k

where in this case its magnitude is unity. If the direction cosines of F


with respect to reference axes x-y-z are l, m, and n, then the projection
of F in the n-direction becomes

Fn  F 䡠 n  F(li  mj  nk) 䡠 (i  j  k)


 F(l  m  n )

because
i 䡠 i  j 䡠 j  k 䡠 k 1
and
i䡠j  j䡠i  i䡠k  k䡠i  j䡠k  k䡠j  0

The latter two sets of equations are true because i, j, and k have unit
length and are mutually perpendicular.

Angle between Two Vectors


If the angle between the force F and the direction specified by the
unit vector n is , then from the dot-product definition we have F 䡠 n 
Fn cos   F cos , where 兩n兩  n  1. Thus, the angle between F and n
is given by

F䡠n
  cos1 (2/13)
F

In general, the angle between any two vectors P and Q is

P䡠Q
  cos1 (2/13a)
P PQ

If a force F is perpendicular to a line whose direction is specified by the


unit vector n, then cos   0, and F 䡠 n  0. Note that this relationship
does not mean that either F or n is zero, as would be the case with
scalar multiplication where (A)(B)  0 requires that either A or B (or
P′
α both) be zero.
Q The dot-product relationship applies to nonintersecting vectors as
well as to intersecting vectors. Thus, the dot product of the noninter-
secting vectors P and Q in Fig. 2/20 is Q times the projection of P⬘ on Q,
or P⬘Q cos   PQ cos  because P⬘ and P are the same when treated as
Figure 2/20 free vectors.

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