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Module M2.4 Introducing Scalars and Vectors: Flexible Learning Approach To Physics
Module M2.4 Introducing Scalars and Vectors: Flexible Learning Approach To Physics
defined. This section also describes the graphical representation of vectors and the notation used to distinguish
vectors from scalars, both in print and in handwritten work. Section 3 introduces some of the basic operations of
vector algebra such as scaling (multiplication by a scalar), vector addition and vector subtraction. It aims to
make clear the meaning of vector equations such as 3a − 2b2=20. The section ends with a discussion of the way
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in which a given vector may be split-up (resolved ) into component vectors — a process that is of importance in
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Question F1
In terms of a strict interpretation of vector and scalar quantities, what is wrong with each of the following
statements?
(a) The velocity of light travelling through a vacuum (usually denoted by c) is approximately 3 × 108 m s − 1 .
2 2 1 1
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(b) The acceleration due to gravity (usually denoted by g) near the surface of the Earth is approximately
10 m s − 2 .
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(a) What is the magnitude and the direction of the displacement 3a − 5b? 2 2
(b) Given a specified line, any vector may be expressed as the sum of two (orthogonal) component vectors, one
parallel to the given line and the other at right angles to that line. What is the magnitude of the (orthogonal)
component vector of 3a − 5b that points in the direction 20° west of north?
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Study comment Having seen the Fast track questions you may feel that it would be wiser to follow the normal route
through the module and to proceed directly to Ready to study? in Subsection 1.3.
Alternatively, you may still be sufficiently comfortable with the material covered by the module to proceed directly to the
Closing items.
Question R3
The modulus of a quantity x is written | x | and represents the absolute value of x. Evaluate the following
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in this simple and straightforward way are called scalar quantities. Thus:
Scalar quantities are physical quantities that can be completely specified by a single number together with
an appropriate unit of measurement.
(a + b) + c = a + (b + c) (5) ☞
a(bc) = (ab)c (6)
a(b + c) = ab + ac (7)
Scalar quantities are often referred to simply as scalars. There is nothing very surprising about the behaviour of
scalars; their properties seem obvious and, indeed, they are obvious. What is much more interesting is that there
are many physical quantities that are not scalars.
48°
Question T1
Belfast
What is the displacement:
(a) from Exeter to Belfast?
(b) from Belfast to Edinburgh? 3 ❏ 588 km
465 km
S Exeter
Which of the following displacements are equal to the displacement from Edinburgh
Edinburgh to Belfast?
230 km
(a) A displacement of magnitude 230 km, 48° east of north.
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Belfast
588 km
465 km
Figure 1 An idealized map showing
the relative locations of Belfast, N
Edinburgh and Exeter. 21°
W E
S Exeter
Vector quantities are physical quantities that can be completely specified by a magnitude and a direction.
Note that the general ‘magnitude’ referred to here is always a non-negative scalar quantity, just as distance (the
magnitude of a displacement) must always be a non-negative scalar quantity. The magnitude of any vector
quantity can be thought of as the ‘size’ or ‘length’ of that vector.
Apart from displacement, other important vector quantities include velocity, acceleration, and force. You may
not be familiar with all of these quantities, so a few words about each should help to define it and to underline its
vector nature.
The velocity of an object is a vector quantity that describes how fast the object is moving and the direction in
which it is travelling. The magnitude of the velocity is called the speed and is a non-negative scalar quantity.
The direction of the velocity is the direction of motion.
Question T3
Which of the following are vector quantities; energy, distance, time, electric charge, rate of change of
acceleration, altitude above sea level? ❏
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Question T4
How would you counter the following assertions (both of which are wrong)?
(a) The velocity of a particular object (such as my car) cannot be a vector since it is not completely specified by
a magnitude and a direction — its complete specification also requires the identification of the moving
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Using Figure 2:
R
(a) Find the magnitude of ™.
PR 5
(b) Describe the direction of ™.
PR 4
™. ❏
(c) Find the magnitude of OQ 3 a
3
P
2
S
1
O
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
−1 x/m
−2
Q
−3
write
| a | = 5 m (In a manuscript: | a~ | = 5 m)
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Sometimes, when there is no risk of confusion, the magnitude of a vector is simply represented by the symbol
used for the vector itself, but without the emboldening. Thus, you might see
a = | a | = 5 m, or simply a = 5 m
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This is obviously much less bother to write, but it is easy to forget that a, being a magnitude, must be non-
negative, whereas you are unlikely to forget that something as complicated as | a | cannot be negative.
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vector is denoted | a~ |. 1 1
section introduces the basic concepts of vector algebra — a subject that is more fully developed in other
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modules.
example the inclusion of the minus sign has had the effect of reversing
the direction. Some more examples of scaling are shown in Figure 3. 1.5a
It should be noted that –1a is usually written – a and that 1.5a could
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Question T8
If a body of mass m = 6 kg has velocity v of magnitude 5 m s− 1 in the direction north-west, what is the
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magnitude and direction of mv? (In Newtonian mechanics this vector quantity is known as the momentum of the
body.) ❏
3
a
(d) Provided | a | is not zero, â =
1 1 is a vector of unit magnitude in the same direction as a.
| a|
a a
(e) =
α |α|
(f) | α a | = | α | | a | ❏
1 1 1 1 11 1 1 3
™ + OS
QO ™ = QS™ (8) −2
Q
The left-hand side of Equation 8 contains a new kind of quantity — the 1 1 −3
sum of two vectors. Thus, Equation 8 is an example of vector addition
and the vector ™
QS on the right-hand side is said to be the vector sum or
™ and ™.
resultant of QO OS Figure 4 The points O, P, Q, R, S and
their locations in the (x, y) plane.
™ + ™)
(c) (PS
3 SR + RQ™ = (d)3 ™ ™ + RQ
PS + (SR ™) = 333 ❏
u+t=w (10) v
w=u+t
D C F
A
E
B
(a) (b) (c)
33333 33333
b –b
a
a
a+b
a
a−b
(a) b (b) (c)
Figure 10 (a) Two vectors, (b) their sum, and (c) their difference.
Given two vectors of the same type, such as the vectors a and b shown in Figure 10a, you already know how to
add them together to form their sum a + b (Figure 10b). You also know how to scale the vector b by the
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number −1 to produce the vector −b that has the same magnitude as b but points in the opposite direction. You
should therefore be able to convince yourself that Figure 10c correctly represents the following summation
a + (− b)
1
The vector difference a − b of the vectors a and b is the vector sum of a and − b.
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In Question T11 you were asked to sketch diagrams showing the sums of various pairs of vectors (shown in
Figure 8). Now sketch similar diagrams for the differences of the same pairs:
(a) A − B, (b) C − D,
2 2 2 2 (c) E − F. ❏
2 2 3
D C F
A
E
B
(a) (b) (c)
33333 33333
✦ How does the vector A − B in Question T12 differ from the vector B − A?
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vector. It has already been stressed that a vector (which has direction and magnitude) cannot be equal to a scalar
(which does not have any direction). However, if we consider the result of a vector subtraction such as a − a 2 2
it’s obvious that the result has zero magnitude and does not point in any specific direction. So, how should we
symbolize this quantity and how should we refer to it? For the sake of consistency we certainly want to call it a
vector so it makes sense to dub it the zero vector. As far as its symbolic representation is concerned, different
authors take different attitudes. Many simply represent it by 0 as you might expect, but others prefer to use a
bold-face zero, 0, to emphasize its vector nature. In FLAP we adopt this somewhat more formal convention, but
don’t be surprised if you see the other elsewhere.
✦ The above discussion of the zero vector has not provided a concise definition of 0.
Write down an equation that defines the zero vector.
Question T13
☞ An angler sitting on a riverbank is watching a duck paddling across the river. The water in the part of the
river in which the duck is paddling is moving at velocity v relative to the angler. The duck is moving at velocity
u relative to the water.
(a) What is the velocity of the duck according to the angler?
(b) What is the velocity of the angler according to the duck? ❏3
action of gravity on the ball’s mass —and that force acts vertically downwards, not parallel to the plane. So,
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Figure 11 (a) A ball of weight W, released from rest on an inclined plane. (b) φ
The component vectors of W, parallel and normal to the plane.
(b)
and, | an | = | a | sin θ
1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 (12)
an
With this information you should be able to find orthogonal
component vectors for yourself, though you may need to think Figure 12 A given vector a and a line AB.
carefully about their directions. The vector is to be resolved into component
vectors parallel (a p )and normal (an ) to the
line AB.
If the weight of the ball in Figure 11 is of magnitude 5 N and the angle of inclination of the plane (φ) is 30°,
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what are the magnitudes and directions of the orthogonal component vectors F1 and F2 ? (Hint: Pay attention to
the definition of φ .) ❏
3
F1
F2
W W
φ φ
(a) 3333
(b)
Figure 11 (a) A ball of weight W, released from rest on an inclined plane. (b) The component vectors of W, parallel and
normal to the plane.
An aeroplane is flying along a northwesterly course at 500 km h− 1 . What are the component vectors of the
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1
In principle, the process of resolution is not restricted to situations in which the chosen directions are
perpendicular and the component vectors are at right angles to each other. In two dimensions a vector may be
resolved into component vectors along any two directions that are not parallel, and in three dimensions a vector
may be resolved into component vectors along any three directions that do not all lie in the same plane. The
process of carrying out such resolutions is similar to that outlined above, though the mathematics is a little more
complicated. Fortunately, such non-orthogonal resolutions are relatively rare in elementary work. It was in order
to emphasize this restriction to mutually perpendicular directions that we made such widespread use of the word
‘orthogonal’ in this subsection. However, since orthogonal resolution is so common we do not follow this
practice elsewhere in FLAP. Generally speaking, if you are given a vector and asked to find its component
vector along some line you should assume that it is the orthogonal component vector along that line which is
required unless you are given a clear indication to the contrary.
4 Any vector a may be multiplied by a scalar α to produce a scaled vector α a which points in the same
1
5 Vectors may be added graphically using either the triangle rule or the parallelogram rule (Figures 7 and 9).
6 The zero vector, 0, has the property that a + 0 = a for any vector a.
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magnitude
| ap | = | a | cos θ
1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1
and,
| an | = | a | sin θ
1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1
8 Displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, weight and momentum are all examples of vector quantities.
Study comment You may now wish to take the Exit test for this module which tests these Achievements.
If you prefer to study the module further before taking this test then return to the Module contents to review some of the
topics.
Question E1
(A2) The magnetic field at a point in space (at any particular time) is completely specified by two items of
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information: (i) A direction. (ii) A non-negative quantity called the strength of the field that can be expressed as
some multiple of an SI unit called the tesla (T). Justify the claim that the magnetic field at a point is a vector
quantity.
region of space, and if one of those particles with charge q experiences a force F due to the attraction or
repulsion of the others, then we say that the particle is subject to an electric field given by F/q. Is the electric
field at the location of the particle a vector quantity? Explain your answer.
Question E3
(A4 and A7) The vectors a and b point north and east, respectively. | a | = 2 cm and | b | = 1 cm. Draw rough
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Express each of the vectors c, d and e in terms of the vectors a and b and c
hence determine which of the following equations involving those vectors
are correct.
e
(a) c = 2a + 2b
(b) − a + 2b + 2c + e = 0
1
(c) − 2a + 12 c + 12 d = 0
1
b d
wind velocity is 20 m s−1 towards the north-east. Draw a sketch showing the compass bearing on which the pilot
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should fly. Determine the compass bearing to the nearest degree and calculate the speed of the aircraft relative to
the ground, correct to one decimal place. (Hint: You might find it useful to recall Question T13.)
Question E6
(A3, A5 and A6) If a, b and c are non-zero displacement vectors and α and β are non-zero numbers, classify
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the following statements as; always true, sometimes true and sometimes false, or always false.
Explain your answers.
(a) | α a | = | α | | a |
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(b) | a + b | < | a | + | b |
1 1 1 1 1 1
(c) α a = | α a |
1 1 1 1
(d) α (a + b) = α a + α b
1 1 1
(e) (α β )(a + b) = α (β a + β b)
1 1 1 1 1
(f) (α + β )(a + b) = α a +β b
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(a) What are the orthogonal component vectors of a parallel and normal to b?
(b) What are the orthogonal component vectors of b parallel and normal to a?
(c) Why are you unable to work out the orthogonal component vectors of a + b, parallel and normal to a − b?
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Study comment This is the final Exit test question. When you have completed the Exit test go back to Subsection 1.2 and
try the Fast track questions if you have not already done so.
If you have completed both the Fast track questions and the Exit test, then you have finished the module and may leave it
here.