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Understanding Vector Concepts in Physics

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
4 views23 pages

Understanding Vector Concepts in Physics

Uploaded by

houariguediri0
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

Scalars and Vectors

* Scalar quantities: have only magnitude +unit


Ex : time (T=7s), length (x=8cm), mass (M=9kg)

* Vectorial quantities: are quantities that have magnitude +unit+ direction

Vectors are essential to physics and engineering. Many fundamental physical quantities are vectors, including

Ex :
 
Position : OM  2t i  t 2 j
  
Velocity : V  2i  2t j
 
Force : F  2i  3 j
Mathematic tools

Vectors
Definition

A vecteur is a quantity that have:


• a direction  
•a magnitude V AB AB V

P1

Example: Displacement P1P2

Notions P2

  
Unit Vector V  V u  Vu

 
u is a unit vector So u 1
Two vectors are equals
 
AB  CD if they have:
same direction
Same magnitude

Two vectors are Opposit


B
AB  -CD ou AB  -BA si:
A
Same magnitude C

Opposite directions D
Adding two vectors There are Two ways to add
  
   A B A
S  A B Or
   
S  A B S
Properties: 
B
1. A B  B  A by placing them

A  B C  A  B  C  head to tail. by constructing a


2. parallelogram.

3. A  ( A)  0

4. V  0  V

Adding 3 vectors: different ways


  

     

R  A B C  A B C  A B C  
Substraction of two vectors:
    A B
A  B  A  ( B)
A- B
-B
Multiplying a vectorby a scalar: k>0
  A
kA
A and B  kA have
  
- magnitude: B  kA  k A
k<0
-same direction if k > 0,
A
- opposit direction if k < 0, kA
A et kA are parallel

Particular cases:
if k= 1, B= A
if k= -1, B= -A
   
Example1: A  2i  3 j A  4  9  13  
     B  16  36  52  2 13  2 A
B  2A  B  4i  6 j
Example2:
F ma F 2a m= 2 g

The direction of F is the same as that of the acceleration because m is positive


The magnitude
F 2 a
  
Relation of Chasles: AC  AB  BC

Example: Write the vector as simple as possible

 
V  BC  DE  AD  EB


AD  DE  AE  V  BC  AE  EB

AE  EB  AB  V  BC  AB

AB  BC  AC  V  AC
Coordinate Systems and Components of a Vector
Vectors are usually described in terms of their components in a coordinate system:

z
  
i  j  k 1
     
i  j, i  k , j  k k
j y
i O
   x
i , j & k : unit vecto rs

   
In the plane: i  j  1 et i  j y
P

j i x
O
Componants of a vector in a plane

V  OP y
In a rectangular (Cartesian) xy-coordinate system in a plane, a Vy P
point in a plane is described by a pair of coordinates (x, y).
   Vx 
V  Vx i  Vy j    j i

Vx x
V y  O
Vx et Vy : components of V (orthogonal projections)

Magnitude: V  Vx2  V y2 Vx  V cos 
So 
Vy  V sin 
Vy
The direction angle tg 
Vx

Example:
  
V  - 4i  2 j

V  16  4  20
Componants of a vector in the space
In a cartesien coordiantes, the position is:
x z
      x
OM  x i  y j  z k OM   y  M y
z  z
  z
k j
 y
Magnitude: OM  x y z
2 2 2 O
x
i m
x
y

example:
   
V  2 i  2 j  4k

V  2 2  2 2  4 2  24
Vector components with origin ≠ from O
 x2  x1 
  
As M1(x1, y1, z1) & M2(x2, y2, z2) : V  M 1M 2   y2  y1 
z  z 
 2 1

Example: diplacement P1P2 : P1(3 ; 2) ; P2(5 ; 6)

5  3    2
V  P1 P2   , V   
6  2  4
Products of Vectors

There are two kinds of products of vectors used broadly in physics and engineering:

scalar multiplication of two vectors:


.
vector multiplication of two vectors:
Scalar product of two vectors
    
Definition: the scalar product of : V  Vx i  V y j & U  U x i  U y j
   
Is a number (scalar) defined by V .U  V U cos   Is the angle between V and U

 
In the Cartesian coordinate system V .U  VxU x  VyU y  VzU z

  2   5
Example: the scalar product of V   
  3  and W   
   3
 
V · W  2  5  (-3) 3  1
Properties:
   
V . U  U.V
      
U.(V  W)  U.V  U.W
   2
V.V  V
       
(V ).W  V (W )   (V .W )  V .W
Application of the sclara prdocuct
Find the Angle between two vectors
     
U.V  U V cos( ) V .U
 cos( )   
V U 0° <θ< 180°

Particular cases: i. i  j. j  k . k  1   0
i. j  i. k  j. k  0 (  /2)

Example: Find the angle between : & .


The vector product two vectors (cross product)
Definition
  
The cross product of 2 vectors gives another vector: V  A  B

Properties:
  
Direction: the plane that conta ins A & B
  
(V  A) & (V  B)   
V  A B B
Magnitude: l’aire du parallelogram defined by A and B :
      A
A  B  A . B sin( A, B)

Direction: : given by the right hand fingers or corkscrew right-hand rule


Example:
       
The cross product of: A  4 i  j  2k B  i  5 j  3k
 
i j- k
  -1 2 4 2  4 -1 
AB 4 -1 2  i j k
5 -3 1 -3 1 5
1 5 -3
   
A  B   3 - 10 i -  12 - 2  j   20  1k
   
A  B  7 i  14 j  21k

Properties: A  B  B  A
A  (B  C)  A  B  A  C
( A)  B  A  ( B)   ( A  B)
i i  j  j  k k  0
Applications of the cross product
In mathematics
Area of a triangle ABC is given as :
1
S  AB  BC
2

In physics

The Torque of a Force F applied in A for a rotation by O :



M AB / O   OA  F
The double vector produit 
  
  
A B C  A D

Le mixed product 
  
A. B  C 
Applications of the mixed prodcut

 
Parallelepiped Volume :
V  AB. AC  AD
Exercise : Vectors 2    2  2
     
A  3 , B 3 , C 1 
For the following 3 vectors :
1  1   0 
     
1-Represent these 3 vectors in cartesien coordinate
2- Calculate their unit vectors
3- Calculate : et

(with 2 methodes; geometric & algebric)

3. Calculate the scalar product & the cross product between &

3. Find the angle between &

5- Calculate the AOB triangle area

6-Calculate the paralleliped difined by


Derivative & integral of a function

f f f
df (x, y, z)  dx  dy  dz
x y z
Integral :
Dervative :
n 1
x
df (x) f (x)  x n   f (x)dx 
f (x)  x n
 nx n 1 n 1
dx

df (x) sin(  x)
f (x)  cos(x)    sin(  x) f (x)  cos(x)   f (x)dx 
dx 

cos( x)
f (x)  sin( x) 
df (x)
  cos( x) f (x)  sin( x)   f (x)dx  
dx 
   
Derivative & integral of a vector: A  Ax t  i  Ay t  j  Az t  k

dA dAx t   dAy t   dAz t  
Derivative :  i j k
dt dt dt dt
  
Integral :
 At dt   Ax dt i   Ay dt j   Az dt k
  3
Example : V  3t i  2t j  t k
2

We assume : at
t=0s,x=0, y=0, z=0
Derivative :

dV    
d 3t   d 2t 2  d t 3    
a
dt

dt
i
dt
j
dt
k  a  3 i  4t j  3t k
2

 t2
Integral: x  3
 2
    t3
 OM   y  2
OM   V t dt   3t dt i   2t dt j   t dt k
2 3
 3
 t4
z 
 4
Mathematical tools:
For :    
f(x,y,z) a scalar function & V  Vx i  Vy j  Vz k a vector
      
The operator Nabla:   i j k
x y z

The vector divergence:    Vx Vy Vz


divV  .V   
Scalar product with Nabla
x y z
The scalar gradiant  f  f  f 
Scalar multiplication with Nabla grad f  .f  i  j k
x y z
  
i j k
    
The rotation of a vector: rotV    V 
Cross product with Nabla x y z
Vx V y Vz
Mathematical tools :

Trigonometric relations Trigonometric derivatives

cos( a  b)  cos a cos b  sin a sin b


d sin x
cos( a  b)  cos a cos b  sin a sin b  cos x
dx
sin( a  b)  sin a cos b  cos a sin b d cos x
  sin x
sin( a  b)  sin a cos b  cos a sin b dx

sin 2a  2 sin a cos a


Primitive Sin x Derivative
cos 2a  2 cos 2 a - 1  1 - 2 sin 2 a
-cos x cos x

-Sin x

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