Physics General (PHSG) Class Notes

Department Of Physics
Rishi Bankim Chandra Evening College

Class: Semester –I (Lecture – III) Topic: Vectors

Composition of Vector:
Scalar quantities can be added normally like 50 gm+ 20 gm = 70 gm but a vector can’t be added with another
vector like that because apart from magnitude, vectors also had directions which also must be included in
calculation of vector addition.
Composition of vectors results a new vector called Resultant Vector.
Vector addition can be done geometrically with the help of

i) Triangle law:
If two vectors are represented by two sides of a
triangle in sequence, then third closing side of the
triangle, in the opposite direction of the sequence,
represents the sum (or resultant) of the two
vectors in both magnitude and direction.
Here, the sum of vectors 𝑃 & 𝑄 is expressed by
vector 𝑅 (follow direction of resultant vector)

ii) Parallelogram Law:

If two vectors are represented by two adjacent
sides of a parallelogram, then the diagonal of
parallelogram through the common point
represents the sum of the two vectors in both
magnitude and direction.

iii) Polygon law:

If (n-1) numbers of vectors are represented by (n-
1) sides of a polygon in sequence, then nth side,
closing the polygon in the opposite direction,
represents the sum of the vectors in both
magnitude and direction.
Analytical Method:

In ∆ACB,

𝑨𝑪 = 𝐴𝐵 Cos 𝜃= 𝑄 Cos 𝜃
𝑩𝑪 = 𝐴𝐵 Sin 𝜃= 𝑄 Sin 𝜃
In right ∆OCB, we have:

OB = OC 2 + BC 2 = OA + AC 2 + BC 2
Substituting for AC and BC,

⇒ 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑃 + 𝑄 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 2 + 𝑄𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 2
⇒ 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑃2 + 2𝑃𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 + 𝑄 2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜃 + 𝑄 2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜃
⇒ 𝑅 = 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑃2 + 2𝑃𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 + 𝑄 2

Let "α" be the angle that line OA makes with OC, then

𝐵𝐶 𝑄 sin 𝜃
tan 𝛼 = =
𝑂𝐶 𝑃 + 𝑄 cos 𝜃

The equations give the magnitude and direction of the sum of the vectors.

 when two vectors are perpendicular to each other. In that case, 𝜃 = 90° then 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = sin 90° =
1 & 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = cos 90° = 0 then

𝑅 = 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑃2 + 𝑄2
𝐵𝐶 𝑄 sin 90° 𝑄
and tan 𝛼 = = =
𝑂𝐶 𝑃+𝑄 cos 90° 𝑃

 when two vectors are parallel to each other. In that case, 𝜃 = 𝑂° then 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = sin 0° = 0 & 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 =
cos 0° = 1 then

𝑅 = 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑃+𝑄 2
𝐵𝐶 𝑄 sin 0°
and tan 𝛼 = = = 0 (same direction as 𝑃 & 𝑄)
𝑂𝐶 𝑃+𝑄 cos 0°

***For Parallelogram law use same method after finding the triangle of operation.
Unit Vector:
𝑃
Unit Vector is represented by the symbol ‘^’, which is called as cap or hat, such as: 𝑛. It is given by 𝑛 =
𝑃
Where 𝑃 is for norm or magnitude of 𝑃. Direction of unit vector is same as the main vector with value 𝑛 = 1.
Therefore,
𝑃=𝑛𝑃

Multiplication of two vectors:

Two vectors can be multiplied by principle of vector multiplication but the result differs depending upon the type of
multiplication we are using.
i) Scalar Multiplication: Scalar product of two vector means the product of the magnitudes of the two
vectors with the cosine of the angle between them; scalar multiplication results a
scalar quantity which is C in this example.
As example,
𝐶 = 𝐴. 𝐵 = 𝐴𝐵 cos 𝜃 where 𝜃 is the angle between 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵

Properties of Scalar Multiplications:

a) a scalar product of a vector with itself is the square of the magnitude of that vector
𝐴. 𝐴 = 𝐴2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 0° = 𝐴2
b) as unit vectors have unit length, so a scalar product of a unit vector with itself is just 1
𝑖. 𝑖 = 𝑗 . 𝑗 = 𝑘 . 𝑘 = 1
c) unit vectors are also mutually orthogonal, so the scalar products with each other are 0
𝑖. 𝑗 = 𝑗 . 𝑘 = 𝑘 . 𝑖 = 0
d) scalar product of vectors is commutative.
𝐴. 𝐵 = 𝐵 . 𝐴
e) scalar product of vectors are distributive.
𝐴. 𝐵 + 𝐶 = 𝐴 . 𝐵 + 𝐴. 𝐶
f) scalar product of vectors do follow coordination rule.
𝑖𝑓 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚, 𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛
𝑚𝐴 . 𝑛𝐵 = 𝑚𝑛 𝐴. 𝐵 = 𝐴. 𝑚𝑛𝐵 = 𝑛𝐴. 𝑚𝐵
g) if 𝐴 = 𝐴𝑥 𝑖 + 𝐴𝑦 𝑗 + 𝐴𝑧 𝑘 and 𝐵 = 𝐵𝑥 𝑖 + 𝐵𝑦 𝑗 + 𝐵𝑧 𝑘 then scalar product of these two will be
𝐴. 𝐵 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧 𝐵𝑧

ii) Vector Multiplication: Vector product of two vector means the product of the magnitudes of the two
vectors with the sine of the angle between them. ; vector multiplication results a
vector quantity which is D in this example.
As example,
𝐷 = 𝐴 × 𝐵 = 𝐴𝐵 sin 𝜃 𝑛 where 𝜃 is the angle between 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 and 𝑛 is in a
direction perpendicular to the plane 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 vector is lying.
Properties of Scalar Multiplications:
a) a vector product of a vector with itself is always 0
𝐴 × 𝐴 = 𝐴2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 0° = 0
b) as unit vectors have unit length, so a vector product of a unit vector with itself is just 0
𝑖×𝑖=𝑗×𝑗=𝑘×𝑘 =0
c) scalar products with each other are always the next unit vector
𝑖 × 𝑗 = −𝑗 × 𝑖 = 𝑘
𝑗 × 𝑘 = −𝑘 × 𝑗 = 𝑖
𝑘 × 𝑖 = −𝑖 × 𝑘 = 𝑗
d) scalar product of vectors is not commutative.
𝐴 × 𝐵 = −𝐵 × 𝐴
e) scalar product of vectors are distributive.
𝐴× 𝐵+𝐶 =𝐴×𝐵+𝐴×𝐶
f) scalar product of vectors do follow coordination rule.
𝑖𝑓 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛
𝑚𝐴 × 𝐵 = 𝐴 × 𝑚𝐵 = 𝑚 𝐴 × 𝐵 = 𝑚(𝐴𝐵𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 𝑛)
g) if 𝐴 = 𝐴𝑥 𝑖 + 𝐴𝑦 𝑗 + 𝐴𝑧 𝑘 and 𝐵 = 𝐵𝑥 𝑖 + 𝐵𝑦 𝑗 + 𝐵𝑧 𝑘 and 𝐶 = 𝐶𝑥 𝑖 + 𝐶𝑦 𝑗 + 𝐶𝑧 𝑘 then scalar product of
these two will be
𝑖 𝑗 𝑘
𝐴 × 𝐵 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐴𝑦 𝐴𝑧 = 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑧 − 𝐴𝑧 𝐵𝑦 𝑖 + 𝐴𝑧 𝐵𝑥 − 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑗 + (𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑦 − 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑥 )𝑘
𝐵𝑥 𝐵𝑦 𝐵𝑧