Chapter 3

Vectors
Coues Topics
3.1 Vectors and scalars
3.2 Adding vectors geometrically
3.3 components of vectors
3.4 unit vectors
3.5 Adding vectors by components
3.6 Multiplying vectors

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 3.1 Vectors and scalars

All physical quantities can be either

Vectors: have magnitude and direction Scalars: have only magnitude (no direction)
Examples: displacement, force, Examples: distance, temperature, mass …
acceleration …
Vector
Vectors are represented graphically as arrows: The length of
the arrow is proportional to the magnitude of the vector, and
the direction (angel) of the arrow represents the direction of θ (direction)
the vector.

Any vectors that have the same magnitude and the same direction are
equal vectors.

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In a diagram, you can move a vector to a new position if you don’t change its length and
direction.

It is allowed to shift a a
vector to a position parallel
a to itself.

We can add vectors using two methods

Geometrically By components

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3.2 Adding Vectors Geometrically
• Suppose you moved from A to B as shown by the red line in the
figure. Your displacement (which is a vector) is represented by the
arrow for A to B. Next, you moved from B to C as shown. What is
your net displacement? It is the vector for A to C.
• This is the way you can add vectors geometrically. AB + BC = AC
• We call AC the vector sum (or resultant) of the vectors AB and
BC.
• We can represent the relation among the three vectors in the figure
with the vector equation:

𝑠Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏
This sum is not the usual algebraic sum (in vector sum, we add
magnitudes and also direction!)

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• The method of adding vectors geometrically is called head-to-
tail method. It is done by the following steps:
A C
Assume you have 3 vectors A, B and C that you need to add. B

1) On paper, sketch vector A to some scale and at the proper

angle. B

2) Sketch vector B to the same scale, with its tail at the head of A

vector A, again at the proper angle.

B
3) Repeat the same procedure for vector C.
A
4) The vector sum S is the vector that extends from the tail of A to C

the head of C (the arrow represents the magnitude and

direction of the resultant C). B
A
C
• This can be written as:
S=A+B+C S
Or
𝑆Ԧ = 𝐴Ԧ + 𝐵 + 𝐶Ԧ 5
Properties of Vector addition:

• 𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏 = 𝑏 + 𝑎Ԧ (commutative law)

Ԧ + 𝑐Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ + (𝑏Ԧ + 𝑐Ԧ )
• (𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏) (associative law)

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 • The vector −𝑏 is a vector with the same magnitude as 𝑏 but
the opposite direction
This means:
𝑏 + −𝑏 = 0

• Thus, adding −𝑏 has the effect of subtracting 𝑏 . We use this

property to define the difference between two vectors: let 𝑑Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ
− 𝑏:

𝑑Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ − 𝑏 = 𝑎Ԧ + (−𝑏) (vector subtraction)

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3.3 Components of Vectors

• We can resolve any vector to its components

y axis
• The components are the projections of the vector on each axis ay a
• For example, the vector a has x-axis component ax and y-axis
θ x axis
component ay
ax
• The components can be positive or negative (based on the direction of
the vector itself)

y axis y axis y axis

a
ay
ax ax
x axis x axis x axis
ax
ay ay

a a

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How can you convert a vector to its component?
𝑎𝑥
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = → 𝑎𝑥 = 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
𝑎 a ay y axis
𝑎𝑦 ay a
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = → 𝑎𝑦 = 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 θ
𝑎 ax
θ x axis
ax
Also, if you know the components of any vector then you can calculate
the magnitude and angle (direction) of the original vector:

𝑎= 𝑎2𝑥 + 𝑎2𝑦

−1
𝑎𝑦
𝜃= 𝑡𝑎𝑛
𝑎𝑥

Note: these equations are correct only if the angle θ is made with the positive x-axis.
If the angle is made with any other axis, you must recalculate these equations by the same
method (see the next example)

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Example 1: An airplane leaves an airport and moves for 215 km away, in a direction
making an angle of 22° toward the east from due north. How far east and north is the
airplane from the airport?

Solution:

We need to find the x-axis and y-axis components of the

displacement d:

dx = d sin θ = 215 × sin(22°) = 81 km

dy = d cos θ = 215 × cos(22°) = 200 km

This means that the airplane is 81 km east and 200 km north

of the airport.
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Example 2: Vector C has the components: Cx = 10, and Cy = 5, find its magnitude and direction.

Solution:

The magnitude of the

The direction:
vector:
𝐶𝑦
𝜃 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1
𝐶= 𝐶𝑥2 + 𝐶𝑦2 𝐶𝑥

= 102 + 52 5
= 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1
= 100 + 25 10

= 125 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 0.5

= 11.2 = 26.6°

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3.4 Unit vectors

• A unit vector is a vector that has a magnitude of exactly 1 and

points in a particular direction.
1 − 3
Example: Show that the vector of components 𝑢𝑥 = and 𝑢𝑦 =
2 2
is a unit vector:
1 3 2
The magnitude of 𝑢 is (2)2 + (− 2
) = 1. then 𝑢 is a unit vector

• For each axis we have a particular unit vector:

x-axis has the unit vector 𝑖 Ƹ

y-axis has the unit vector 𝑗 Ƹ
z-axis has the unit vector 𝑘෠

• So, we can write the vector 𝑎Ԧ as:

𝑎Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑧 𝑘෠

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3.5 Adding Vectors by Components:

If we have two vectors 𝑎Ԧ and 𝑏 :

𝑎Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ

𝑏 = 𝑏𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ

and we need to calculate 𝑟Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏 we just add the components of each axis to each other:

𝑎Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 ෠𝑖 + 𝑎𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ
+
𝑏 = 𝑏𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ

𝑟Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑦 + 𝑏𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ

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 For example, if we have two vectors:
𝐴Ԧ = 3𝑖 Ƹ + 4𝑗 Ƹ − 2 𝑘෠
and
𝐵 = −5 𝑖 Ƹ + 3𝑗 Ƹ + 2𝑘෠

Then we can calculate 𝐴Ԧ + 𝐵 as following, Then we can calculate 𝐴Ԧ − 𝐵 as following,

𝐴Ԧ + 𝐵 = 3 − 5 𝑖 Ƹ + 4 + 3 𝑗 Ƹ + −2 + 2 𝑘෠ 𝐴Ԧ − 𝐵 = 3 − −5 𝑖 Ƹ + 4 − 3 𝑗 Ƹ + −2 − 2 𝑘෠

= −2𝑖 Ƹ + 7 𝑗 Ƹ + (0)𝑘෠ = 3 + 5 𝑖 Ƹ + 4 − 3 𝑗 Ƹ + −2 − 2 𝑘෠

= −2𝑖 Ƹ + 7 𝑗 Ƹ = 8𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑗 Ƹ − 4𝑘෠

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3.6 Multiplying vectors

There are tow ways to multiply a vector by another vector

Vector product (cross product)

Scalar product (dot product)
the result is a vector quantity
the result is a scalar quantity
𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 = 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑎Ԧ ∙ 𝑏 = 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦

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 The Scalar Product
There are 2 ways to calculate this type of product

If the vectors are expressed in If the vectors are expressed in unit-

magnitude-angle notation: vector notation:
𝑎Ԧ 𝑎Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑧 𝑘
θ 𝑏 = 𝑏𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑧 𝑘 Ԧ𝑖 ∙ Ԧ𝑖 = 𝑗Ԧ ∙ 𝑗Ԧ = 𝑘 ∙ 𝑘 = 1

𝑏 Ԧ𝑖 ∙ 𝑗Ԧ = 𝑗Ԧ ∙ 𝑘 = Ԧ𝑖 ∙ 𝑘 = 0
then,
𝑎Ԧ ∙ 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑏 𝑐𝑜𝑠θ
𝑎Ԧ ∙ 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑥 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑦 + (𝑎𝑧 𝑏𝑧 )
• ⸫ the result depends on the
magnitude of a and the magnitude
of b and the angle between them. Note that the result has no unit vectors
because it is a scalar quantity (the final
• the result can be positive or negative result will be just a number)
based on the values of the vectors,
and the angle between them.
The commutative law applies to the scalar product
𝑎Ԧ ∙ 𝑏 = 𝑏 ∙ 𝑎Ԧ
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Example 3: if you have two forces 𝑭𝟏= 5 N Example 4: if you have two forces
and 𝑭𝟐 = 3 N and the angle between them is 𝑭𝒂 = 2𝑖 Ƹ − 3𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑘
40°, find 𝑭𝟏 ∙ 𝑭𝟐 𝑭𝒃 = 4𝑖 Ƹ + 5𝑗 Ƹ + 10𝑘

find 𝑭𝒂 ∙ 𝑭𝒃
Solution:
𝐹Ԧ2
Solution:
40°
𝐹Ԧ𝑎 ∙ 𝐹Ԧ𝑏 = (2×4) + (–3×5) + (1×10)
𝐹Ԧ1
= 8 – 15 + 10
=3N
𝐹Ԧ1 ∙ 𝐹Ԧ2 = 5×3×cos(40°) = 11.5 N

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 The Vector Product
The result of vector product of 𝒂 and 𝒃 is a third vector 𝒄 whose
magnitude can be calculated by two ways

If the vectors are expressed in If the vectors are expressed in unit-

magnitude-angle notation: vector notation:
Ԧ𝑖 × Ԧ𝑖 = 𝑗Ԧ × 𝑗Ԧ = 𝑘 × 𝑘 = 0
𝑎Ԧ 𝑎Ԧ = 𝑎𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑎𝑧 𝑘
Ԧ𝑖
𝑏 = 𝑏𝑥 𝑖 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑦 𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑏𝑧 𝑘
θ
then we can use the matrix, 𝑗Ԧ 𝑘
𝑏 𝑖Ƹ 𝑗Ƹ 𝑘෠
𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑏 𝑠𝑖𝑛θ 𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑥 𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑧
𝑏𝑥 𝑏𝑦 𝑏𝑧
• ⸫ the result depends on the
magnitude of a and the magnitude
of b and the angle between them. 𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 = [aybz − byaz] 𝑖 Ƹ – [bzax − azbx] 𝑗 Ƹ + [axby − bxay] 𝑘
• the result can be positive or negative
based on the values of the vectors, Note that the result has unit vectors because it is a
and the angle between them. vector quantity

The commutative law does not applies to the vector product

𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 = −𝑏 × 𝑎Ԧ
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To determine the direction of the result vector 𝑐Ԧ (where 𝑐Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏 ) we use the right-hand-rule:

1- point your right-hand fingers in the direction of 𝑎Ԧ (the first vector).

2- curl your fingers toward the direction of 𝑏 (the second vector).
3- the result vector 𝑐Ԧ is in the direction of your thumb.

𝑐Ԧ = 𝑎Ԧ × 𝑏

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Example 5: if you have two forces 𝑭𝟏= 5 Example 6: if you have two forces
N and 𝑭𝟐 = 3 N and the angle between
them is 40°, find 𝑭𝟏 × 𝑭𝟐 𝑭𝒂 = 2𝑖 Ƹ − 3𝑗 Ƹ + 𝑘

𝑭𝒃 = 4𝑖 Ƹ + 5𝑗 Ƹ + 10𝑘
Solution:
𝐹Ԧ2
find 𝑭𝒂 × 𝑭𝒃
40° Solution:
𝐹Ԧ1
𝐹Ԧ𝑎 × 𝐹Ԧ𝑏 = [ay bz − by az ] 𝑖Ƹ − [bz ax − az bx] 𝑗 Ƹ + [axby − bxay ] 𝑘

𝐹Ԧ1 × 𝐹Ԧ2 = 5×3×sin(40°) = 9.6 N = [(–3×10) – (5×1)] 𝑖Ƹ −[(10×2) – (1×4)] 𝑗Ƹ +[(2×5) –

(4×–3)] 𝑘
By using the right-hand-rule: the direction of
the result is “out of the page”
= –35 𝑖Ƹ – 16 𝑗Ƹ + 22 𝑘

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