PHYSICS

Mechanics Wave Motion and Sound

Heat and Thermodynamics Electricity and Magnetism
Optics Modern Physics

basic mathematical concept

Fundamenta and derived quantities

Correct units of measurements

Correct number of significant figures

VECTORS
YOU HAVE GIVEN ME
DIRECTION. YOU HAVE
GIVEN ME A DIFFERENT
MEANING
I WAS A SCALAR UNTIL
YOU WALKED INTO MY
LIFE. NOW, I AM A

VECTOR!
 magnitude

Vector Quantities

direction

added Subtracted from multiplied

another vector

graphically analytically scalar another vector

Polygon Parallelogram Sine law and Component

method method cosine law method
• VECTORS AND SCALARS
• QUANTITIES IN PHYSICS MAY EITHER BE SCALAR OR VECTOR.
SCALAR COMES FROM THE LATIN WORD “SCALA” MEANING STEPS
OR LADDER. A SCALAR QUANTITY IS ONE THAT CAN BE
COMPLETELY DESCRIBED BY ITS MAGNITUDE AND APPROPRIATE
UNITS.
THE WORD VECTOR ORIGINATES FROM THE WORD “VEHERE”
MEANING TO CARRY. A VECTOR QUANTITY IS ONE THAT REQUIRES
DIRECTION AS WELL AS MAGNITUDE AND UNITS FOR ITS COMPLETE
DESCRIPTION.
• AS ARROW REPRESENTS A VECTOR QUANTITY. THE LENGTH OF THE
ARROW IS SCALED TO BE PROPORTIONAL TO THE MAGNITUDE OF
THE VECTOR. THE DIRECTION OF THE ARROW IS THE DIRECTION OF
THE VECTOR.
• VECTORS CAN BE ADDED, SUBTRACTED OR MULTIPLIED.
 THERE ARE TWO GENERAL WAYS OF ADDING VECTORS: THE
GRAPHICAL AND ANALYTICAL. THE ANALYTICAL METHOD IS
DIVIDED INTO LAW OF SINES AND LAW OF COSINES AND THE
COMPONENT METHOD. THE LAW OF SINES AND LAW OF COSINES
ARE NORMALLY USED WHEN THERE ARE MORE TWO VECTORS TO BE
ADDED. THE COMPONENT METHOD IS MORE CONVENIENT TO USE
WHEN THERE ARE MORE THAN TWO VECTORS TO BE ADDED. THE
GRAPHICAL METHOD IS DIVIDED INTO POLYGON AND THE
PARALLELOGRAM METHOD.
 TO SUBTRACT A VECTOR B FROM ANOTHER VECTOR A, SIMPLY
ADD THE NEGATIVE OF B TO A. THE NEGATIVE OF A VECTOR IS A
VECTOR TO IT IN MAGNITUDE BUT OPPOSITELY DIRECTED.
 TYPES OF QUANTITIES

• THE MAGNITUDE OF A QUANTITY TELLS HOW LARGE THE QUANTITY IS.

• THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF QUANTITIES:

• 1. SCALAR QUANTITIES HAVE

MAGNITUDE ONLY.
• 2. VECTOR QUANTITIES HAVE BOTH
MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION.
 CHECK.
CAN YOU GIVE SOME EXAMPLES OF EACH?
• SCALARS • VECTORS
• MASS • WEIGHT
• DISTANCE • DISPLACEMENT
• SPEED • VELOCITY
• TIME • ACCELERATION
 VECTORS - WHICH WAY AS WELL AS
HOW MUCH

• VELOCITY IS A VECTOR QUANTITY THAT

INCLUDES BOTH SPEED AND DIRECTION.
• A VECTOR IS REPRESENTED BY AN
ARROWHEAD LINE
• SCALED
• WITH DIRECTION
 ADDING VECTORS
• TO ADD SCALAR QUANTITIES, WE SIMPLY USE ORDINARY
ARITHMETIC. 5 KG OF ONIONS PLUS 3 KG OF ONIONS
EQUALS 8 KG OF ONIONS.
• VECTOR QUANTITIES OF THE SAME KIND WHOSE
DIRECTIONS ARE THE SAME, WE USE THE SAME
ARITHMETIC METHOD.
• IF YOU NORTH FOR 5 KM AND THEN DRIVE NORTH FOR 3 MORE
KM, YOU HAVE TRAVELED 8 KM NORTH.
 CHECK.

• WHAT IF YOU DROVE 2 KM SOUTH, THEN GOT OUT YOUR CAR

AND RAN SOUTH FOR 5 KM AND WALKED 3 MORE KM SOUTH.
HOW FAR ARE YOU FROM YOUR STARTING POINT?
• DRAW A SCALED REPRESENTATION OF YOUR JOURNEY.
Addition of Vectors: Resultant
For vectors in same or
opposite direction, simple
addition or subtraction are
all that is needed.
You do need to be careful
about the signs, as the figure
indicates.
 APPLICATIONS OF VECTORS
VECTOR ADDITION – IF 2 SIMILAR VECTORS POINT IN THE SAME
DIRECTION, ADD THEM.

• EXAMPLE: A MAN WALKS 54.5 METERS EAST, THEN ANOTHER 30

METERS EAST. CALCULATE HIS DISPLACEMENT RELATIVE TO WHERE
HE STARTED?
54.5 m, E + 30 m, E Notice that the SIZE of
the arrow conveys
MAGNITUDE and the
84.5 m, E way it was drawn
conveys DIRECTION.
 APPLICATIONS OF VECTORS

VECTOR SUBTRACTION - IF 2 VECTORS ARE GOING IN

OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, YOU SUBTRACT.

• EXAMPLE: A MAN WALKS 54.5 METERS EAST, THEN 30

METERS WEST. CALCULATE HIS DISPLACEMENT RELATIVE TO
54.5 m, E
WHERE HE STARTED? -
30 m, W

24.5 m, E
 NON-COLLINEAR VECTORS
WHEN 2 VECTORS ARE PERPENDICULAR, YOU MUST
USE THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM.
A man walks 95 km, East then 55
km, north. Calculate his
The hypotenuse in Physics Finish RESULTANT DISPLACEMENT.
is called the RESULTANT.
c2  a 2  b2  c  a 2  b2
55 km, N c  Resultant  952  552
Vertical
Component
c  12050  109.8 km
Horizontal Component

95 km,E
Start
The LEGS of the triangle are called the COMPONENTS
 BUT……WHAT ABOUT THE DIRECTION?

IN THE PREVIOUS EXAMPLE, DISPLACEMENT WAS ASKED FOR

AND SINCE IT IS A VECTOR WE SHOULD INCLUDE A
DIRECTION ON OUR FINAL ANSWER. N

W of N E of N
N of E
N of W
W E
N of E S of W S of E

NOTE: When drawing a right triangle that

conveys some type of motion, you MUST W of S E of S
draw your components HEAD TO TOE. S
 BUT……WHAT ABOUT THE DIRECTION?

IN THE PREVIOUS EXAMPLE, DISPLACEMENT WAS ASKED FOR

AND SINCE IT IS A VECTOR WE SHOULD INCLUDE A
DIRECTION ON OUR FINAL ANSWER. N

W of N E of N
N of E
N of W
W E
N of E S of W S of E

NOTE: When drawing a right triangle that

conveys some type of motion, you MUST W of S E of S
draw your components HEAD TO TOE. S
BUT…..WHAT ABOUT THE VALUE OF THE
ANGLE???
JUST PUTTING NORTH OF EAST ON THE ANSWER IS NOT SPECIFIC
ENOUGH FOR THE DIRECTION. WE MUST FIND THE VALUE OF THE
ANGLE.
To find the value of the
angle we use a Trig
function called TANGENT.
109.8 km
55 km, N
opposite side 55
Tan    0.5789
 N of E adjacent side 95
95 km,E   Tan 1 (0.5789)  30

So the COMPLETE final answer is : 109.8 km, 30 degrees North of East

 WHAT IF YOU ARE MISSING A
COMPONENT?
SUPPOSE A PERSON WALKED 65 M, 25 DEGREES EAST OF NORTH.
WHAT WERE HIS HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL COMPONENTS?
The goal: ALWAYS MAKE A RIGHT
H.C. = ?
TRIANGLE!

V.C = ? To solve for components, we often use

25 the trig functions since and cosine.
65 m
adjacent side opposite side
cosine   sine  
hypotenuse hypotenuse
adj  hyp cos  opp  hyp sin 

adj  V .C.  65 cos 25  58.91m, N

opp  H .C.  65 sin 25  27.47m, E
 EXAMPLE
A BEAR, SEARCHING FOR FOOD WANDERS 35 METERS EAST THEN 20 METERS NORTH.
FRUSTRATED, HE WANDERS ANOTHER 12 METERS WEST THEN 6 METERS SOUTH.
CALCULATE THE BEAR'S DISPLACEMENT.
23 m, E
- =

12 m, W
- =
14 m, N
6 m, S
20 m, N
R  14 2  232  26.93m
14
35 m, E R 14 m, N Tan   .6087
23

  Tan 1 (0.6087)  31.3
23 m, E
The Final Answer: 26.93 m, 31.3 degrees NORTH or EAST
 EXAMPLE
A BOAT MOVES WITH A VELOCITY OF 15 M/S, N IN A RIVER
WHICH FLOWS WITH A VELOCITY OF 8.0 M/S, WEST.
CALCULATE THE BOAT'S RESULTANT VELOCITY WITH RESPECT
TO DUE NORTH.
Rv  82  152  17 m / s
8.0 m/s, W
8
15 m/s, N
Tan   0.5333
Rv  15
  Tan 1 (0.5333)  28.1

The Final Answer : 17 m/s, @ 28.1 degrees West of North

 EXAMPLE
A PLANE MOVES WITH A VELOCITY OF 63.5 M/S AT 32 DEGREES SOUTH OF EAST.
CALCULATE THE PLANE'S HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL VELOCITY COMPONENTS.

adjacent side opposite side

cosine   sine  
H.C. =? hypotenuse hypotenuse
32 adj  hyp cos  opp  hyp sin 
V.C. = ?

63.5 m/s
adj  H .C.  63.5 cos 32  53.85 m / s, E
opp  V .C.  63.5 sin 32  33.64 m / s, S
 EXAMPLE
A STORM SYSTEM MOVES 5000 KM DUE EAST, THEN SHIFTS COURSE AT
40 DEGREES NORTH OF EAST FOR 1500 KM. CALCULATE THE STORM'S
RESULTANT DISPLACEMENT.
adjacent side opposite side
cosine   sine  
1500 km hypotenuse hypotenuse
V.C.
adj  hyp cos  opp  hyp sin 
40
5000 km, E H.C.
adj  H .C.  1500 cos 40  1149.1 km, E
opp  V .C.  1500 sin 40  964.2 km, N

5000 km + 1149.1 km = 6149.1 km R  6149.12  964.2 2  6224.14 km

964.2
Tan   0.157
6149.1
R
964.2 km   Tan 1 (0.364)  8.91

6149.1 km The Final Answer: 6224.14 km @ 8.91
degrees, North of East
 ADDITION OF VECTORS IN 2D

• FOR VECTORS IN TWO DIMENSIONS, WE USE THE TAIL-TO-

HEAD METHOD.
• THE MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION OF THE RESULTANT CAN BE
DETERMINED USING TRIGONOMETRIC IDENTITIES.
TRIGONOMETRIC IDENTITIES
opposite adjacent
sin   cos 
hypotenuse hypotenuse
opposite
tan 
adjacent
Pythagoras ' Theorem : hyp 2  opp 2  adj 2
a b c
Sine Rule :  
sin A sin B sin C
Cosine Rule : a 2  b 2  c 2  2b  c  cos A
 4.0 N 5.0 N
Vectors at 0o
R= 9.0 N

R= 8.3 N

5.0 N
Vectors at 45o
4.0 N

R= 6.4 N 5.0 N
4.0 N
Vectors at 90o
 5.0 N
R= 3.6 N
4.0 N
Vectors at 135o

4.0 N 5.0 N
Vectors at 180o
R= 1.0 N
USING YOUR PROTRACTORS, DRAW
THE FOLLOWING VECTORS:
1. 5 CM @ 30O

2. 10 KM @ 45O

3. 7 M @ 110O

4. 100 KM/H @ 315O

5. 8 N @ 135O

*SUBMIT A PICTURE OF YOUR WORK TO ME. THANKS!

 Addition of Vectors:Graphical Methods
The parallelogram method may also be used; here
again the vectors must be “tail-to-tip.”
Addition of Vectors: Graphical Methods
Even if the vectors are not at right angles,
they can be added graphically by using the
“tail-to-tip” method.
 Adding Vectors by Components
Any vector can be expressed as the sum of two
other vectors, which are called its components.
Usually the other vectors are chosen so that
they are perpendicular to each other.
Adding Vectors by Components

If the components
are perpendicular,
they can be found
using
trigonometric
functions.
 Adding Vectors by Components

Adding vectors:
1. Draw a diagram; add the vectors graphically.
2. Choose x and y axes.
3. Resolve each vector into x and y components.
4. Calculate each component using sines and cosines.
5. Add the components in each direction.
6. To find the length and direction of the vector, use: