 

Ex. If P  3 i  4 j  12k then find magnitude and the direction cosines of the P .

 2 2 2
S o l . magnitude P is  Px  Py  Pz = 3 2  4 2  12 2 = 169  13

Px 3 Py 4 Pz 12
(ii) cos    , cos    , cos   
P 13 P 13 P 13
Ex. Find out the angle made by ( i  j ) vector from X and Y axes respectively.

i+ 
2 2
Sol. a  a x  a y  12  12  2

j
= 
a
ax 1

°
cos   

45
  = 45° 5°
a 2

=
=4

X
ay 1
cos      = 45° i  j is at bisector of X and Y axes.
a 2

Ex. Find out the angle made by A  i  j  k vector from X, Y and Z axes respectively.

2 2 2
S o l . Given Ax = Ay = Az = 1 so A Ax  Ay  Az  1 1 1  3

Ax  1   cos 1
1
cos   or
A 3 3

Ay 1 1
cos    or   cos 1
A 3 3

Az  1   cos 1
1
cos   or
A 3 3

Ex. A force of 4N is inclined at an angle of 60° from the vertical.

Find out its components along horizontal and vertical directions.
S o l . Vertical Component = 4 cos 60° = 2N
Horizontal component = 4 sin 60° = 2 3 N
Ex. A force is inclined at an angle of 60° from the horizontal. If the horizontal component of the force is 40N,
calculate the vertical component.
S o l . A x = 40N, Ay = ?,  = 60°
A
 Ax = A cos  40 = A cos 60° = or A = 80N
2

A 3 80 3
Now Ay = A sin 60° = = = 40 3 N = 40 × 1.732 = 69.28 N
2 2
 
Ex. Determine that vector which when added to the resultant of P  2 i  7 j  10 k and Q  i  2 j  3 k gives a
unit vector along X-axis.
  
S o l . Resultant R  P  Q  (2 i  7 j  10 k )  ( i  2 j  3 k )  3 i  9 j  7k
 
But R + required vector = i or required vector = i – R  i  (3 i  9 j  7k )  2 i  9 j  7 k

19
Ex. ABC is an equilateral triangle. Length of each side is 'a' and centroid is point O. Find
      C
(i) AB  BC  CA  ? (ii) OA  OB  OC  ?
  
(iii) If | AB  BC  AC| = n a then n = ?
a a
   O
(iv) If AB  AC = n AO then n = ?
A B
   a
Sol. (i) AB, BC and CA form a closed triangle in the same order

   
 AB  BC  CA  0

  
(ii) OA, OB and OC are three vectors of equal magnitude and are separated by 120° each

   
 OA  OB  OC  0

      
(iii) AB  BC  AC  (AB  BC)  AC  2 AC

    
| AB  BC  AC||2 AC| 2| AC| 2a  n = 2

     
(iv) AB  AO  OB and AC  AO  OC

    
 AB  AC  2 AO  OB  OC ....................(1)

   
but OA  OB  OC  0

   
 OB  OC  OA  AO ....................(2)

   
by (1) and (2) AB  AC  2AO  AO

  
AB  AC  3AO  n = 3

 
Ex. Add vectors A , B and C which have equal magnitude of 50 unit and are B Y
A
inclined at angles of 45°, 135° and 315° respectively from x-axis.
5°

 
13

S o l . Angle between B and C =315°-135°= 180° 45°

18 X
 They balance each other 0°

so sum these three is A = 50 unit at 45° from X-axis C
Ex. The sum of three vectors shown in figure, is zero.
C

(i) What is the magnitude of vector OB ? B
D 45°
 O
(ii) What is the magnitude of vector OC ?
 A = 10N
S o l . Resolve OC into two rectangular components.
OD = OC cos 45° and OE = OC sin 45°
20
 For zero resultant OE = OA or OC sin 45° = 10N

1
OC  = 10N or OC  10 2N
2
C E
and OD = OB or OC cos 45° = OB
45° B
1
or 10 2   OB or D O
OB  10N
2

 and A = 10N
OC  10 2N OB  10N

MULTIPLICATION OR DIVISION OF A VECTOR BY A SCAL AR

 
  
If there is a vector A and a scalar K and if B  KA and C  A then
K

(a) In multiplication of a vector by a scalar the magnitude becomes K times while the direction remains
 
same. So that angle between A and B is zero.
(b) In division of a vector by a scalar,the magnitude becomes (1/K) times and the direction remains same.
 
So that angle between A and C is zero.
GOLDEN KEY POINTS
1. A scalar or a vector, can not be divided by a vector.
2. Vectors of different types can be multiplied to generate new physical quantities which may be a scalar or a
vector. If, in multiplication of two vectors, the generated physical quantity is a scalar, then their product is
called scalar or dot product and if it is a vector, then their product is called vector or cross product.

SCALAR PRODUCT OF TWO VECTORS

Definition :
The scalar product (or dot product) of two vectors is defined as the product of their magnitudes with cosine of
the angle between them.
 
Thus if there are two vectors A and B having angle  between them then their scalar product is written as
 
A . B  AB cos 
GOLDEN KEY POINTS
1. It is always a scalar, which is positive if angle between the vectors is acute (i.e. < 90°) and negative if angle
between them is obtuse (i.e. 90° <  < 180°).
 
2. It is commutative A.B  B.A
    
3. It is distributive A .( B  C )  A . B  A . C
 
4. According to definition A . B = AB cos 
 
B
A. B A.B = AB cos 
The angle between the vectors   cos 1 ( ) 
AB X
A
5. Scalar product of two vectors will be maximum when cos  = max =1, i.e.  =0°,

i.e, vectors are parallel. ( A . B ) max  AB

21
 6. Scalar product of two vectors will be zero when cos  = 0, i.e.   =90°

( A . B ) 0
if the scalar product of two nonzero vectors is zero then vectors are orthogonal or perpendicular to
each other.

7. In case of orthogonal unit vectors i , j and k

i . j  j. k  k . i  1  1  cos 90   0
8. The scalar product of a vector by itself is termed as self dot product and is given by

  2   
A . A  A A cos 0  A  | A|  A . A
9. In case of unit vector n

n . n  1  1  cos 0   1 so n . n  i . i  j . j  k . k  1
10. In terms of components
 ˆ ˆ
A . B  (A x ˆi  A y ˆj  A z k ).(B x ˆi  B y ˆj  B z k ) = (A x B x  A y B y  A z B z )

VECTOR PRODUCT OF TWO VECTORS

Definition :
The vector product or cross product of two vectors is defined as a vector having magnitude equal to the product
of their magnitudes with the sine of angle between them, and its direction is perpendicular to the plane
containing both the vectors according to right hand screw rule or righ hand thumb rule.
  C=A×B 
n
If A and B are two vectors, then their vector product 
n
     
i.e. A × B is a vector C defined by C  A  B  AB sin  nˆ

A B
Right Hand Thumb Rule 
 
Place the vector A and B tail to tail.
 
Now place stretched fingers and thumb of right hand perpendicular to the plane of A and B such that the
 
fingers are along the vector A . If the fingers are now closed through smaller angle so as to go towards B ,
  
then the thumb gives the direction of A  B i. e. C A×B
Right Ha nd Scre w Rule
  
The direction of A  B i.e., C is perpendicular to the plane containing vectors

  
A and B and owards the advancement of a right handed screw rotated from A (first
 A B
vector) to B (second vector) through the smaller angle between them.

 
Thus, if a right handed screw whose axis is perpendicular to the plane formed by A and B is rotated from
om
 
A to B through the smaller angle between them, then the direction of advancement of the screw gives the
 
direction A  B .

22
EXAMPLES OF VECTOR PRODUCT

     
(i) Torque   r F (ii) Angular momentum J  r  p

     
(iii) Velocity v    r (iv) Accelaration a    r

  
Here r is position vector and F , p ,  and  are force, linear momentum, angular velocity and
angular accelaration respectively.

GOLDEN KEY POINTS

1. Vector product of two vectors is always a vector perpendicular to the plane containing the two vectors, i.e.,
 
orthogonal (perpendicular) to both the vectors A and B
A×B=C
2. Vector product of two vectors is not commutative i.e.
B
       
A B  B  A But | A  B|  | B  A| AB sin  A

   
Note : A B   B  A
B
    A
i.e., in case of vectors A  B and B  A magnitudes are equal but

directions are opposite [See the figure] B × A = –C

3. The vector product is distributive when the order of the vectors is strictly maintained, i.e.
      
A ( B  C )  A  B  A  C

 
4. According to definition of vector product of two vectors A  B  A B sin nˆ

   
  1 | A  B | 
So | A  B| A B sin  i.e.   sin   
| A| | B |
 
5. The vector product of two vectors will be maximum when sin  = max. = 1, i.e.,  =90°

 
| A  B |max  AB sin 90  AB
i.e. vector product is maximum if the vectors are orthogonal (perpendicular).
6. The vector product of two non-zero vectors will be zero when sin  = 0,

 
i.e.  = 0° or 180° and | A  A | 0
Therefore if the vector product of two non-zero vectors is zero, then the vectors are collinear.
7. The self cross product, i.e., product of a vector by itself is a zero vector or a null vector.
  
i.e. A  A  (AA sin 0 ) nˆ  0
 
8. In case of unit vector n 
nˆ  nˆ  1  1  sin 0 nˆ  0 so that ˆi  ˆi  ˆj  ˆj  kˆ  kˆ  0

9. In case of orthogonal unit vectors i , j and k ; according to right hand thumb rule

ˆi  ˆj  kˆ , ˆj  kˆ  ˆi , kˆ  ˆi  ˆj and ˆj  ˆi  kˆ , kˆ  ˆj  ˆi , ˆi  kˆ  ˆj

23
 10. In terms of components

ˆi ˆj kˆ
  ˆ
A B  Ax Ay Az = ˆi(A y B z  A z B y )  ˆj(A x B z  A z B x )  k(A xBy  A y Bx )

Bx By Bz

E x . Can scalar product be ever negative ?

S o l . Yes. Scalar product will be negative if  > 90°.

 
 P . Q  PQ cos   When  > 90° then cos is negative and P . Q will be negative.

     
Ex. If | A  B|  | A  B| , then find the angle between A and B .

Sol.      
| A  B|  | A  B| A 2  B 2  2AB cos  = A 2  B 2  2AB cos 

or A2 + B2 + 2AB cos  = A2 + B2 – 2AB cos  or cos  = 0   = 90°

   
Ex. If A  4 i  n j  2k and B  2 i  3 j  k , then find the value of n so that A  B .


S o l . Dot product of two mutually perpendicular vectors is zero A . B  0

 (4ˆi  njˆ  2kˆ).(2iˆ  3ˆj  kˆ)  0  (4  2)  (n  3)  ( 2  1)  0  3n = – 6  n = – 2

     
Ex. If F  (4 i  10 j ) and r  (5 i  3 j ) , then calculate torque.

       
S o l . Here r 5 i  3 j 0 K and F  4 i  10 j  0 K

ˆi ˆj kˆ
    5 3 0 ˆ 50  12)  38kˆ
  r F  ˆi(0  0)  ˆj(0  0)  k(
4 10 0

Ex. ˆ and (iˆ  ˆj  2kˆ) .

Find a unit vector perpendicular to both the vectors (2ˆi  3ˆj  k)

 
S o l . Let A  2iˆ  3ˆj  kˆ and B  ˆi  ˆj  2kˆ

 
  A B
unit vector perpendicular to both A and B is n̂   
| A B |

ˆi ˆj kˆ
  ˆ 2  3)  7iˆ  3ˆj  5kˆ
 ˆi(6  1)  ˆj(4  1)  k(
A B  2 3 1
1 1 2

1
   2 2 2 unit  n̂  (7iˆ  3ˆj  5k )
| A  B |  7  ( 3)  ( 5)  83 83

24
 GOLDEN KEY POINTS

 
  AB
Unit vector perpendicular to A as well as B is n̂  .
 
| A  B|

  
nd C are coplanar, then 
If A , B and  
A .( B  C )  0 .

Angle between (     
A  B ) and ( A  B ) is 90 .

GEOMETRICAL MEANING OF VECTOR PRODUCT OF TWO VECTORS

   
(i) Consider two vectors A and B which are represented by OP and OQ and POQ  
(ii) Complete the parallelogram OPRQ. Join P with Q. Here OP = A and OQ = B.
Draw QN  OP.
 
(iii) Magnitude of cross product of A and B Q R
 
| A  B |  AB sin  B

= (OP) (OQ sin )


= (OP) (NQ) ( NQ  OQ sin ) O N P
A
= base × height
= Area of parallelogram OPRQ
base  height (OP) (NQ) 1  
Area of POQ = =  | A  B|
2 2 2
 
 Area of parallelogram OPRQ = 2[area of  OPQ] = | A  B|
Formulae to Fi nd Area :
  1  
If A and B are two sides of a triangle, then its area = | A  B|
2
   
If A and B are two adjascent sides of a parallelogram then its area =| A  B |

  1  
If A and B are diagonals of a parallelogram then its area = | A  B|
2
 
Ex. The diagonals of a parallelogram are expressed as A  5iˆ  4ˆj  3kˆ and B  3iˆ  2ˆj  kˆ .
Calculate the magnitude of area of this parallelogram.
 
Sol. When A and B are the diagonals of a parallelegram, then its
1  
Area = | A  B|
2

ˆi ˆj kˆ
  4 3 5 3 5 4
A B = 5 4 3 i j k
2  1 3 1 3 2
3 2 1

 ˆi ( 4)( 1)  (3)( 2)  ˆj (5)( 1)  (3)(3)  kˆ (5)( 2)  ( 4)(3)  10ˆi  14 ˆj  2kˆ

  1   1
| A  B|  (10)2  (14)2  (2)2  300 area of parallelogram= | A  B|  10 3  5 3
2 2
25