Chapter 3
Vectors
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vector: a physical quantity with
both magnitude and direction
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Physics deals with quantities that have both size and
direction
A vector is a mathematical object with size and
direction
A vector quantity is a quantity that can be
represented by a vector
Examples: position, velocity, acceleration
Vectors have their own rules for manipulation
A scalar is a quantity that does not have a direction
Examples: time, temperature, energy, mass
Scalars are manipulated with ordinary algebra
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
The simplest example is a displacement vector
If a particle changes position from A to B, we represent
this by a vector arrow pointing from A to B
In (a) we see that all three arrows have
the same magnitude and direction: they
are identical displacement vectors.
In (b) we see that all three paths
correspond to the same displacement
vector. The vector tells us nothing about
the actual path that was taken between A
and B.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
The vector sum, or resultant
o Is the result of performing vector
addition
o Represents the net displacement of
two or more displacement vectors
o Can be added graphically as shown:
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Vector addition is commutative
o We can add vectors in any order
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Vector addition is associative
o We can group vector addition however we like
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
A negative sign reverses vector
direction
We use this to define vector
subtraction
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
These rules hold for all vectors, whether they
represent displacement, velocity, etc.
Only vectors of the same kind can be added
o (distance) + (distance) makes sense
o (distance) + (velocity) does not
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Rather than using a graphical method, vectors can be added by
components
o A component is the projection of a vector on an axis
The process of finding components is called resolving the
vector
The components of a vector can
be positive or negative
They are unchanged if the vector
is shifted in any direction (but not
rotated)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Components in two dimensions can be found by:
Where θ is the angle the vector makes with the
positive x axis, and a is the vector length
The length and angle can also be found if the
components are known
(ax, ay)
(a, )
Therefore, components fully define a vector
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
In the three dimensional case we need more
components to specify a vector:
o (a,θ,φ) or (ax,ay,az)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-1 Vectors and Their Components
Angles may be measured in degrees or radians
For conversion, recall that a full circle is 360˚, or 2π rad
Know the three basic trigonometric functions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-2 Unit Vectors, Adding Vectors by Components
A unit vector
o Has magnitude 1
o Has a particular direction
o Lacks both dimension and unit
o Is labeled with a hat: ^
We use a right-handed
coordinate system.
o Remains right-handed when
rotated
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-2 Unit Vectors, Adding Vectors by Components
The quantities axi and ayj are vector components.
The quantities ax and ay alone are scalar components.
o Or just “components” as before
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-2 Unit Vectors, Adding Vectors by Components
Vectors can be added using components.
To subtract two vectors, we subtract components
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-2 Unit Vectors, Adding Vectors by Components
Vectors are independent of the
coordinate system used to measure
them
We can rotate the coordinate
system, without rotating the vector,
and the vector remains the same
All such coordinate systems are
equally valid
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
Multiplying a vector z by a scalar c
o Results in a new vector
o Its magnitude is the magnitude of vector z times |c|
o Its direction is the same as vector z, or opposite if c is
negative
o To achieve this, we can simply multiply each of the
components of vector z by c
To divide a vector by a scalar we multiply by 1/c
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
Multiplying two vectors: the scalar product
o Also called the dot product
o Results in a scalar, where a and b are magnitudes and φ is the angle
between the directions of the two vectors:
o The commutative law applies:
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
A dot product is: the product of the magnitude of one vector
times the scalar component of the other vector in the direction
of the first vector
Either projection of one vector onto
the other can be used
We can do the dot product in
component form
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
Multiplying two vectors: the vector product
o The cross product of two vectors with magnitudes a & b, separated by
angle φ, produces a vector with magnitude:
o And a direction perpendicular to both original vectors
Direction is determined by the right-hand rule
Place vectors tail-to-tail, sweep fingers from the first to the
second, and thumb points in the direction of the resultant vector
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
The upper shows vector a cross vector b, the lower shows vector b cross vector a
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3 Multiplying Vectors
The cross product is not commutative
To evaluate, we distribute over components:
Therefore, by expanding it:
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 Summary
Scalars and Vectors Adding Geometrically
Scalars have magnitude only Obeys commutative and
associative laws
Vectors have magnitude and
Eq. (3-2)
direction
Eq. (3-3)
Both have units!
Vector Components Unit Vector Notation
Given by We can write vectors in terms
Eq. (3-5) of unit vectors
Eq. (3-7)
Related back by
Eq. (3-6)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 Summary
Adding by Components Scalar Times a Vector
Add component-by-component Product is a new vector
Magnitude is multiplied by
scalar
Eqs. (3-10) - (3-12) Direction is same or opposite
Scalar Product Cross Product
Dot product Produces a new vector in
perpendicular direction
Eq. (3-20) Direction determined by right-
hand rule
Eq. (3-24)
Eq. (3-22)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.