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Vectors
Figure 5.1: The line shows the vector from point A to point B.
Vectors are often written as lower case symbols in bold (e.g. a), as lower case symbols
underlined (especially in hand-written text, e.g. a) or in terms of the initial and final
(terminal) points with an arrow above indicating the direction (e.g. AB).
In contrast to vectors, normal quantities which do not have direction are called scalars.
Examples of scalars are temperature and pollutant concentration.
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5.2 Equal Vectors
Vectors are equal when they have the same magnitude and direction. So for example in
Fig. 5.2, AB = CD.
Figure 5.2: Two equal vectors AB and CD, i.e. a = b.
In the above example, if AB = a and CD = b, then we write
a = b.
Figure 5.3: Two vectors, one of which is the negative of the other, i.e. b = a.
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5.4 Addition and Subtraction of Vectors
Vectors are added by joining them end to end as shown in Fig. 5.4
Figure 5.4: Addition of two vectors a and b by joining them end to end to form a
triangle.
This method is called the Triangle Law of vector addition. Subtraction of vectors is
performed by addition of negative vectors:
a b = a + (b)
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the x and y directions. Equally, starting from these components, we can reconstruct the
original vector because
a =OA = OB + BA = OB + OC. (5.1)
Figure 5.6: Resolving a vector a into components a cos() and a sin() in the x and y
directions.
The examples given in this section are two-dimensional, but the results may be ex-
tended to three dimensions.
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magnitude of a. We usually write this as
a =ab
a (5.2)
where b
a has magnitude 1 and a is the magnitude of a, i.e.
|b
a| = 1 and |a| =a.
r =xi+yj. (5.4)
and therefore p
OP = r = |r| = x2 + y 2 . (5.5)
More generally in three dimensions, if P is the point (x, y, z), then
r = xi + yj + zk. (5.6)
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Figure 5.8: Position vector r of point P with coordinates (x, y).
From the results of section 5.7, we now have a straightforward way of determining a unit
vector in the direction of r:
r xi + yj + zk
b
r= =p . (5.8)
|r| x2 + y 2 + z 2
As an example, consider the vector r = 2i + 6j + 3k.
|r| = 22 + 62 + 32 = 4 + 36 + 9 = 49 = 7.
Hence
2i + 6j + 3k 2 6 3
b
r= = i + j + k.
7 7 7 7
Examples 4, Q9
Addition of vectors in component form is achieved in the obvious way be adding
components. So
r1 + r2 = x1 i + y1 j + z1 k + x2 i + y2 j + z2 k
= (x1 + x2 )i + (y1 + y2 )j + (z1 + z2 )k. (5.9)
For example
(i + 4j + 7k) + (5i 2j + k) = (1 + 5)i + (4 2)j + (7 + 1)k
= 6i + 2j + 8k.
Similarly
(i + 4j + 7k) (5i 2j + k) = (1 5)i + (4 + 2)j + (7 1)k
= 4i + 6j + 6k.
Examples 4, Q10
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5.9 Unit vectors and position vectors in polar co-
ordinates
In plane polar co-ordinates, the position of a point in space is defined by two co-ordinates
(r, ), where r is the distance of the point from the origin and is the angle between the
x-axis and the straight line from the origin to the point, as shown in Figure 5.9. Instead
of the Cartesian unit vectors i and j, it is common when using plane polar co-ordinates
to define unit vectors which point in the direction of increasing r and . These vectors
are also shown in the diagram, and they are
b
r, which points in the direction of increasing r, and
b which points in the direction of increasing .
,
Note that:
Figure 5.9:
1. These unit vectors change direction with the position of the point we are describing,
so that:
b
r = i cos + j sin
b
= i sin + j cos .
This can lead to some confusion when the point moves (see section 5.13 below).
r = rb
r (5.10)
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5.10 The Scalar Product of Two Vectors
The scalar product of two vectors a and b is written as a.b and is defined as
where is the angle between a and b (see Fig. 5.10). Note that the result of this product
is a scalar hence the name. The scalar product is sometimes called the dot product.
Figure 5.10: Angle used in the definition of the scalar product of vectors a and b.
Note that the angle between any vector and itself is 0 and hence
As an example, consider
Examples 4, Q11
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Note also that
|i + 4j + 7k| = 1 + 16 + 49 = 66
and |5i 2j + k| = 25 + 4 + 1 = 30
Examples 4, Q12
a b = |a||b| sin()b
n (5.17)
where is the angle between a and b and n b is a unit vector perpendicular to both a and
b. Since the two vectors a and b may be thought of as defining a plane, there must be
two possible unit vectors which are perpendicular to this plane (for example, if the plane
is horizontal, then the vector could be up or down). The correct direction of n b is
given by the right-hand screw rule. Fig. 5.11. shows how n b is determined by this rule.
Figure 5.11: A right-handed screw is aligned along the direction perpendicular to both a
and b. If the screw is then rotated in the direction such that a rotates towards b, then
b.
the screw will advance in the direction n
Note that the result of the vector product is another vector. The vector product is
sometimes called the cross product.
Since the angle between any vector and itself is 0, it follows that
a a = |a||a| sin(0)b
n = 0. (5.18)
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If a and b are perpendicular, then
n = |a||b|b
a b = |a||b| sin( )b n.
2
because sin( 2 ) = 1. If the order of a and b is reversed, then the direction of rotation will
be reversed and therefore the direction of the unit vector n b will be reversed. This means
that
a b = b a. (5.19)
Special cases of the above are
ii=jj=kk=0 (5.20)
and
i j = k, j k = i, k i = j. (5.21)
Fig. 5.12 shows the order of i, j and k in eqn 5.21, making the results easy to remember.
From Eq. (5.21) and (5.19),
j i = k, k j = i, i k = j. (5.22)
It is not necessary to remember these as they can easily be obtained from Eq. (5.21) by
reversing the order of multiplication.
As an example consider
Examples 4, Q13
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5.12 Vector Functions
A vector may be a function of a scalar. An obvious example is the position vector r of
a moving object, which is a function of time. In this case we would denote the position
vector by r(t) where t is time. Fig. 5.13 shows the position P of an object as it moves
along the trajectory indicated by the dashed line.
Figure 5.13: Position vector r(t) of an object moving along the trajectory shown by the
dashed line.
Examples 4, Q14
A special case of dierentiation of vectors concerns unit vectors. Consider the unit
position vector b
r(t). As this is a unit vector, its magnitude must always be 1 and so only
the direction can change. The situation is shown in Fig. 5.15, where the unit vector br(t)
changes its direction by an angle in time t. From this figure we see that
db
r b
r
= lim .
dt t0 t
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Figure 5.14: Change in position vector r during a small time interval t for a moving
object.
db
r b
= lim
dt t0 t
d b
= (5.24)
dt
We can use the above result to dierentiate the more general position vector r. For
this we use the fact that we can write r in the form
r = rb
r
dr d
= (rb
r)
dt dt
dr db
r
= b
r+r
dt dt
dr d b
= b
r+r (5.25)
dt dt
Hence the velocity has components dr/dt in the radial (b
r) direction and rd/dt in the
b
tangential () direction.
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Figure 5.15: Change to the unit vector rb in time t. Note that because rb is a unit vector,
its magnitude must remain 1 and so its terminal point can only move on a circular
trajectory.
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