SPH 101: MECHANICS I

WEEK 1/ TOPIC/SUBTOPICS
Physical quantities are divided into two main classes
a) Scalar quantities
b) Vector quantities

Scalar quantities possess magnitude and no direction in space e.g. temperature, mass
time.

Vector quantities have magnitude and direction and obey the parallelogram law of
addition of vectors e.g acceleration, force, electric field.

- Electric current has both magnitude and direction but is not a vector quantity since
id does not obey the parallelogram law of addition.
- Finite rotation of a rigid body about an axis has magnitude and direction but is
not a vector quantity because the sum of two such rotations, one agier the other is
not given by the parallelogram law.

Types of vectors
Coplanar vectors – are vectors whose line of action lies in the same plane i.e. if they are
in the plane they are known as coplanar vectors and the plane in which the vectors lie
are called the plane vectors.

Position vectors
These are vectors used to specify the position of a point P with respect to same fixed
Point O. OP, known as position vector of P with respect to O

[Find out the following]

- Addition of vectors
- Subtraction of vectors
- Commutative vector sum
- Associative vector sum
- Multiplication of a vector by a scalar
- Linear combination of vectors.

RESOLUTION OF VECTORS

A 2-D vector can be represented as the sum of two vectors. Consider a vector A (OP) as
shown in Figure 1.1
Let Ax and Ay be its vector intercepts along the X and Y axis. Therefore
A = Ax + Ay
Ay and Ax are vector components of A i and j are unit vectors along the X and Y axis
suppose Ax and Ay are the scalar magnitude of the vector components Ax and Ay then
Ax = Axi and Ay = Ayj

Is the angle made between A and positive A axis. Sketch the spatial positions of vectors
A, 𝑨𝒚 and 𝑨𝒙 using Figure 1

𝐴𝑥 = A cos and 𝐴𝑦 = A sin

This result is used for adding vectors suppose is the vector sum of A and B then

C=A+B

These vectors can be expressed in terms of vector components

Addition of x – components and y – components can be obtained

Hence

The component of the resultant along an axis is the algebraic sum of the individual
components in the direction as shown in Figure 1.2

Fig 1

A three dimensional vector A can be represented as the sum of three mutually

perpendicular vectors along the three co-ordinate axis i.e
Ax, Ay and Ax are components of A along X, Y and Z respectively
Therefore
A = Ax + Ay + Az

Suppose Ax, Ay and Az are the scalar magnitudes of these component vectors, then
obtain.
Suppose 𝜃1 , 𝜃2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜃3 are the angles made with A X Y and Z and with the directions
of i, j and k respectively, then determine the direction cosines of vectors XYZ. (Reffer to
hand out on Resolution of vectors)

POSITION VECTOR
If the co-ordinates of a point r are known (position)
The distance of that point to the origin can be expressed in time and space

Supose X, Y, Z are the co-ordinates of point r.

R is therefore the position vector of the point.

The direction cosines of r being x/r, y/r and z/r

Sketch the position r in a 2 –D diagram and then find the direction cosines

Example 2
A particle of mass 3kg moves under a force of 4i + 8j + 10K N. Calculate the acceleration
of the particle. If the particle starts from rest from the center of the co-ordinates,
calculate its co-ordinates after 3 seconds.

Solution
F = ma

𝐹 4𝑖+8𝑗+10𝑘
a =𝑚 = 3

Displacement after 3s

1 4𝑖+8𝑗+10𝑘
S=2. (3)2
3

= 6i + 12j + 15k

Initially the particle was at the origin, and the new position of the vector will be given by

𝑟⃗ = 6i + 12j +15k
The position by co-ordinates will be (6, 12, 15)

EXAMPLE 2
⃗⃗ lying in xy plane provided that:
Find the sum of two displacement vectors 𝑃⃗⃗ and 𝑄
𝑃⃗⃗ = (4𝑖 + 6𝑗)

⃗⃗ = (3𝑖 − 8𝑗)
𝑄

SOL

⃗⃗ = (4𝑖 + 6𝑗) +(3𝑖 − 8𝑗) = 7i -2j

𝑅⃗⃗ = 𝑃⃗⃗ + 𝑄

R = √(72 ) + (−2)2 + 0 = √53

Direction of R

𝑅𝑦 −2.0
tan θ = = = -15.95
𝑅𝑥 7

EXAMPLE 3
A particle undergoes three consecutive displacements ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗1 = (21𝑖 + 40𝑗 + 15𝑘)𝑐𝑚, ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗2 =
(18𝑖 − 16𝑗 − 10𝑘)𝑐𝑚 and ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗3 = (−20𝑖 + 18𝑗)𝑐𝑚 . Determine the unit vector notation
for the resultant displacement and its magnitude.
SOL
∆𝑟⃗ = ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗1 + ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗2 + ∆𝑟⃗⃗⃗⃗3

= (21𝑖 + 40𝑗 + 15𝑘)𝑐𝑚 + (18𝑖 − 16𝑗 − 10𝑘)𝑐𝑚 + (−20𝑖 + 18𝑗)𝑐𝑚

= 19 i+ 42j + 5k

R = √𝑅𝑥 2 + 𝑅𝑦 2 + 𝑅𝑧 2
R = √192 + √422 + √52

= 46.37
Dot Product

When we multiply two vectors, we can either apply a multiplication rule that produces a
scalar as the end result, or one that produces a vector as the end result. The first one that
produces a scalar is called dot product. In mathematical texts, this is often called inner
product or scalar product.. Dot product has all the usual properties of products, such as
associativity, commutativity, and the distributive property. Geometrically, dot product is
defined as:

,
Where is the angle between and . Note that since cos 0 = 1, if is parallel to ,
then . On the other hand, since cos 900 = 0. If is perpendicular to ,
then . Using this as the guiding rule, we find below relationship:

Using this, we can define dot product in terms of component vectors as follows:

You are encouraged to expand out the multiplication explicitly, using the distributive
property and find which terms cancel to zero and which products become 1.

Cross Product

Multiplication of vectors produces a vector quantity. It defines the property of 3-

dimensional space. Since we can define a vector multiplication this way and still obtain a
vector. This rule will not work when limited to 2-D, and in any dimensions greater than
3, an extension of this rule will not result in another vector (a dot product can be
naturally extended or limited to any dimensions to produce a scalar). This multiplication
gives a cross product or outer product which is also known as vector product. The
product can be defined with the two rules, first specifying the product vector's direction,
and the second specifying its magnitude:

1. , Is perpendicular to and (that is, perpendicular to the plane defined

by these two vectors). This leaves two possible directions along the line
perpendicular to the plane. One of the two directions is called by a "right-hand
rule": Hold out index finger, middle finger, and the thumb so that they are all
perpendicular to each other. Let the index finger point towards direction of ,
and the middle finger towards . Then the thumb points towards the direction of
. The ordering is important here (note exchanging A and B makes the
thumb point in the opposite direction).

2. , where is again the angle between and .

Applying this definition to unit vectors again, we find following relationships:

And in terms of components, we obtain:

This expression can be expressed as a determinant of a 3 x 3 matrix as shown below:

Some properties of cross product, such as and can be

derived as a property of the determinant of the matrix.

Useful Properties of Dot Product and Cross Product

Both the dot product and the cross product distribute over vector addition.

The dot product of two vectors is proportional to the cosine of the angle between them,
and their cross product is proportional to the sine of the angle between them.

As we have seen already, the dot product is associative and commutative.

It is important to remember that the cross product has neither of these properties. Instead
of being commutative, it is anti-commutative.

FIND OUT
Multiplication of vectors (cross)
- Scalar product or dot product
- Vector product
- Vector product in terms of components
- Triple product
- Scalar and vector triple product in terms of components.

Example
In a 1.5 km wide river, water flows with a velocity of 8 km/hr. A man wishes to go in a
boat from one of the banks to a point on the other bank exactly opposite to his present
position. If he rows his boat with a velocity of 16 km/hr relative to water, determine the
time it takes him to cross over the river to the other river bank.

Solution
Man wishes to move from A to B
To reach to point B the man has to row upstream say towards point C i.e. along AC and
at angle θ with the line AB
- Motion of boat is composed of its motion relative to the water and its motion
together with the water relative to the banks.
- Velocity of boat along the river is zero
υ sinθ = u …………………………………………………………………………………(i)

The velocity across the river is equal to υ cos θ and the distance l (width of the river)
covered during time t is given by:
l = υ cosθ × t ………………………………………………………………….(ii)

u = 8 km/hr υ = 16 km/hr l = 1.5 km

8
sin θ = 16 = 0.5 , θ = 30o

Using equation (ii), substitute l ,υ and θ to obtain:

1.5 = 16 cos 30o

1.5
t = 16 cos 30𝑜 = 0.108 hr ~6.5 minutes

QUESTION (supervised on line practice)

A man in a boat crosses a river from point A to point C. If he rows perpendicular to the
banks he reaches a point C lying 5m downstream from point B after t1 seconds. If the
man heads at certain angle, say θ to line AB against the current he will reach point B after
t2 seconds.

Calculate the width of the river (l ), the velocity of the boat (u) relative to the water, the
speed of the current ( υ) and angle θ assuming the velocity of the boat relative to the
water to be constant and of the same magnitude in both cases.

Solution
In the first case (a) boat moves along the river with a velocity, υ.

Distance covered downstream is given by:-

S = υ𝑡1 ……………………………………… (i)

Boat moves across the river with a velocity u and covers distance l i.e.

In the second case (b), the velocity of the boat along the river is zero i.e.
usinθ = υ ………………………………(ii)

While the velocity across the river is equal to u Cos, and the distance l covered during
the crossing will be

l = u cos θ𝑡2
Solving equation (i) and (iv) obtain
𝑙 𝑆
u=𝑡 υ=𝑡
1 1

From equation (iii) obtain

𝑉
θ = 𝑠𝑖𝑛−1 𝑢
From equation (iii) and (iv) obtain

2 𝑙2 𝑆2 𝑙2
𝑢2= 𝑉 +𝑡 2 =𝑡 2 +𝑡 2
2 1 2
𝑙2 𝑆2 𝑙2
2 =𝑡 2 +𝑡 2
𝑡1 1 2

𝑆2 1 1
2 = l [𝑡 2 − ]
𝑡1 1 𝑡2 2

𝑆2 𝑡 2𝑡 2
𝑙2 = 𝑡 2 [𝑡 12 − 𝑡2 2 ]
1 2 1

1
l = S𝑡2 √𝑡 2 − 𝑡1 2
2