S R

 M
P Q
a
   
 Now, area of parallelogram = | PQ | · | SM | = | PQ · | PS | sin =  a |·| b | sin  = | a × b | hence cross
product of two vectors represents the area of parallelogram formed by it. It is worth noting that area
   
vector a × b acts along the perpendicular to the plane of two vectors a and b .

 UNIT VECTOR PERPENDICULAR TO TWO GIVEN VECTORS

Let be a unit vector perpendicular to two (non-zero) vectors a, b and positive for right handed rotation from
a to b and  be the angle between the vectors a, b then
   
a × b = | a | | b | sin  n̂
   
| a × b | = | a | | b | sin 
   
Thus we get = a × b / | a × b | = n̂ .

   
Q-1. Find a × b and b × a if
 
(i) a = 3 k̂ + 4 ˆj , b = î + ˆj – k̂
 
(ii) a = (2, –1, 1) ; b = (3, 4, –1)
 
Q-2. If a = 3 î + ˆj + 2 k̂ and b = 2 î – 2 ˆj + 4 k̂
 
(i) find the magnitude of a × b
(ii) find a unit vector perpendicular to both a and b.
(iii) find the cosine and sine of the angle between the vectors a and b
 
Q-3. The vectors from origin to the points A and B are a = 3iˆ  6ˆj  2kˆ and b = 2iˆ  ˆj  2kˆ respectively..
Find the area of :
(i) the triangle OAB
(ii) the parallelogram formed by OA and OB as adjacent sides.

VECTOR PRODUCT

   
1. If F  2iˆ  3 ˆj  kˆ and r  iˆ  ˆj  6kˆ find r  F

(1) 17i  13 j  5k (2) 17i  13 j  5k (3) 3i  4 j  5k (4) 3i  4 j  5k

2. Two sides of a triangle are given by i  j  k and i  2j  3k , then area of triangle is

(1) 26 (2) 26 / 2 (3) 46 (4) 26

3. The magnitude of scalar and vector products of two vectors are 144 and 48 3 respectively. What is the angle
between the two vectors ?
(1) 300 (2) 450 (3) 600 (4) 900

4.    
Area of a parallelogram formed by vectors 3iˆ - 2jˆ + kˆ m and ˆi + 2jˆ + 3kˆ m as adjacent sides is

(1) 3 8 m 2 (2) 24 m2 (3) 8 3m 2 (4) 4 3m 2

 
5. Find the values of x and y for which vectors A  6i  x j  2k and B  5i  6 j  yk may be parallel

2 36 5 15 23 36 15
(1) x  0, y  (2) x  ,y (3) x  ,y (4) x  ,y
3 5 3 3 5 3 14
   
6.  A B   B A is equal to
(1) 2 AB (2) A2 B2 (3) zero (4) null vector
 
7. If A and B are two vectors, then which of the following is wrong ?
               
(1) A.B  B. A (2) A  B  B  A (3) A B  B  A (4) A B  B  A
        
8. If none of the vectors A, B and C are zero and if AB  0 and BC  0 the value of AC is
(1) Unity (2) Zero (3) B2 (4) AC cos 
  
9. If A , B and C are coplanar vectors, then
     

(1) A.B C  0   
(2) A B .C  0

  
 
(3) A.B .C  0 (4) all the above are true

   
10. If A along North and B along vertically upward the direction of A  B is along
(1) west (2) south (3) east (4) vertically downwards
 ANSWER KEY

1. 3 2. 4 3. 3 4. 2 5. 4
6. 1 7. 4 8. 3 9. 1 10. 2

ANSWER KEY

1. 1 2. 2 3. 1 4. 3 5. 2
6. 4 7. 3 8. 2 9. 2 10. 3