Experiment 2

Vector Addition

Scalars and Vectors

A scalar quantity is one that can be described

by a single number:
temperature, speed, mass

A vector quantity deals inherently with both

magnitude and direction:
velocity, force, displacement

Vector Addition and Subtraction

AB

Scalars
A quantity that has magnitude only
Length, temperature, mass, time, speed,
work, power and energy
3 C, 3kg, 3s, 3J

Vectors
A geometric entity that is characterized by
a magnitude and direction
Velocity, momentum, acceleration, torque
3m North, 4ft 30 South of East

Objective

Determine the resultant displacement

by the use of the component method,
parallelogram method and polygon
method
To show that the vector addition is
commutative and associative

Theory

Operations on Vectors
Vector Addition
e.g. R= A+B+C

Vector Subtraction
e.g. R = A-B-C
Dot Product Method
e.g. A B = a1b1 + a2b2

Vector Addition
Polygon Method
Parallelogram Method
Component Method

Polygon Method
head to tail method
two vectors are added in such a way that
the terminal point of one vector is
connected to the initial point of another.
Resultant is the vector from the initial point
of A to the terminal point of B

B
R
C

Parallelogram Method
Vectors are drawn at a common origin and
an imaginary parallelogram is sketched
such that the resultant vector is the
diagonal of the parallelogram

Component Method
Involves using trigonometric functions to
determine the resultant vector. The
vectors are broken down into components:
x-component being the projection of the
vector at x-axis.
y-component as the projector at y-axis.

 Makes reference to the components

applied to right triangles.
x-component = Axcos (Ax is the
magnitude of vector & is the direction of
vector).
Y-component = Aysin (Ay is the
magnitude of vector & is the direction of
vector).

Methodology

Materials

meter stick,
chalk,
graphing paper and
protractor

Table 1: Determination of the Resultant

using the Polygon Method (Activity 1)
Trial 1

Magnitude of R
% error of magnitude
Direction of R
% error of direction

Trial 2

Trial 3

Table 2: Determination of the Resultant

using the Parallelogram Method (Activity 2)

Trial 1
Length of arrow
representing R
Magnitude of R
% error of
magnitude

Direction of R
% error of
direction

Trial 2

Table 3: Determination of the Resultant using

the Component Method (Activity 3)
x-component
A
B
C
summation

y-component