College of Arts & Sciences

Department of Applied Sciences

ADU EmSAT Prep Course

2. Vectors

Dr. Giovanni Piacentini

 Summary

• 1 - Vectors and scalars

• 2 - Operation with vectors – Graphical methods
• 3 - Components of a vector
• 4 - Operations with vectors using components
• 5 - Scalar product
 1 - Vectors and Scalars
In physics, we deal with two types of quantities: vectors and scalars.

• Scalar quantities have only a numerical quantity associated with them, i.e., they possess only magnitude:

Examples of scalar quantities: • Time 𝑡

• Distance 𝑑
• Speed 𝑠
• Mass 𝑚
• Temperature 𝑇

• Vector quantities have both magnitude and direction, and are expressed by boldface symbols with an arrow on
the top, such as 𝒗, to distinguish them from scalars:
Vectors are represented graphically by arrows:
Examples of vector quantities: • Displacement ∆𝒙
• Velocity 𝒗 • The magnitude of the
• vector is the length of
Acceleration 𝒂 𝒗 the arrow.
• Force 𝑭
• Momentum 𝒑 • The direction of the
vector is the direction of
the arrow.
 2 - Operation with vectors – Graphical methods
In one dimension, vectors can be added easily:

• If the vector are in the same direction, we just add the magnitudes and preserve the direction:
𝒂 + 𝒃 = 𝒂+𝒃

• If the vector are in opposite direction, we subtract the magnitudes, and the resultant will have the direction of the
biggest one:
𝒂 + 𝒃 = 𝒂+𝒃

• Subtracting a vector from another one means adding the opposite vector:

𝒂 − 𝒃 = 𝒂 + −𝒃 = 𝒂−𝒃
 Vectors in two dimensions
In two dimensions, we can add vectors graphically using the tail-to-tip method:

𝒃
𝒂 + 𝒃 = 𝒂

𝒂+𝒃

In short, place the tail of the second vector on the tip of the first one by moving them rigidly (i.e., without changing
their magnitude or direction): the resultant (sum) of the vectors is the vector that starts from the tail of the first and
ends at the tip of the second.

Note that vector addition satisfies the commutative property, i.e.: 𝒂 + 𝒃 = 𝒃 + 𝒂:

𝒃
𝒂 𝒂+𝒃
=
𝒂+𝒃 𝒃 𝒂
 Subtraction of vectors and multiplication by a scalar
As we mentioned before, to subtract a vector we first need to define the negative or opposite of a vector.

The vector −𝒗 is the opposite of vector 𝒗: it has 𝒗

same magnitude but opposite direction.
−𝒗

Therefore, if we want to subtract vectors 𝒂 and 𝒃, we just add the opposite vector: −𝒃

𝒂 − 𝒃 = 𝒂 + −𝒃 =
𝒂 − 𝒃 = 𝒂 + (−𝒃) 𝒂−𝒃
𝒂

A vector 𝒗 can even be multiplied by a scalar 𝒌. The vector 𝑘𝒗 has the same direction as 𝒗 but its magnitude is 𝑘 𝒗 (i.e.,
it is 𝑘 times longer).

𝒗 0.5𝒗
2𝒗
 3 – Components of a vector
The components of a vector are its perpendicular projections along the axes
𝒗 of a frame of reference.
𝒗𝒚

𝒗𝒙 The vector 𝒗 can be expressed in terms of its x and y components as:

𝒗 = 30𝒊Ƹ + 40𝒋Ƹ
𝒗 = 𝑣𝑥 𝒊Ƹ + 𝑣𝑦 𝒋Ƹ

The vectors 𝒊Ƹ and 𝒋Ƹ are the unit vectors along the x and y axes, respectively.

𝒗 = −4𝟎𝒊Ƹ + 20𝒋Ƹ
𝒗
𝒗𝒚 Vectors expressed in this way are said to be in cartesian form.
𝒗𝒙
 𝒚 To find the components of a vector of we need its magnitude 𝒗 and the
𝒗 angle 𝛼 it makes with one of the axes.
opposite

𝒗𝒐𝒑𝒑 𝒗𝒐𝒑𝒑

Using trigonometry:
𝛼 = 20°

𝒗𝒂𝒅𝒋 𝒙 𝑣𝑎𝑑𝑗 = 𝒗 cos 𝛼 adjacent = next to the angle 𝛼

adjacent
Here: 𝑣𝑥 = +10 cos 20° 𝑣𝑦 = +10 sin 20° 𝑣𝑜𝑝𝑝 = 𝒗 sin 𝛼 opposite = on the other side of the angle 𝛼
𝒗 = 9.4𝒊Ƹ + 3.4𝒋Ƹ

𝒚
The rule gives only the absolute value of the component, the sign must be
determined by looking at the axes.
𝒗
𝛼 = 30° 𝒗𝒂𝒅𝒋

Here: 𝑣𝑥 = −5 sin 30° 𝑣𝑦 = +5 cos 30°

𝒗𝒐𝒑𝒑 𝒙
𝒗 = −2.5𝒊Ƹ + 4.34𝒋Ƹ
 If we have the components of a vector, we can easily find its magnitude 𝒗 and polar direction 𝜃.

2 2
𝒚 Magnitude: 𝑣= 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦

𝒗 −1
𝑣𝑦
𝑣𝑥 > 0 → 𝜃 = tan
𝑣𝑥
𝒗𝒚 𝒗 = 𝑣𝑥 𝒊Ƹ + 𝑣𝑦 𝒋Ƹ 𝑣𝑦
𝑣𝑥 < 0 → 𝜃 = 180° + tan−1
Polar 𝑣𝑥
𝜃 Direction: 𝑣𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑦 > 0 → 𝜃 = 90°

𝒗𝒙 𝒙 𝑣𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑦 < 0 → 𝜃 = 270°

The polar direction 𝜃 of a vector is the counterclockwise angle it makes with the positive x axis.

A vector expressed in terms of its magnitude and direction 𝑣, 𝜃 is said to be expressed in polar coordinates.
 4 – Operations with vectors using components
Once we have the components, it’s easy to do operations with the vectors:

𝒗 = 𝑣𝑥 𝒊Ƹ + 𝑣𝑦 𝒋Ƹ 𝒖 = 𝑢𝑥 𝒊Ƹ + 𝑢𝑦 𝒋Ƹ

Addition: 𝒗 + 𝒖 = (𝑣𝑥 + 𝑢𝑥 )𝒊Ƹ + (𝑣𝑦 + 𝑢𝑦 )𝒋Ƹ

Subtraction: 𝒗 − 𝒖 = (𝑣𝑥 − 𝑢𝑥 )𝒊Ƹ + (𝑣𝑦 − 𝑢𝑦 )𝒋Ƹ

Multiplication 𝑘𝒗 = 𝑘𝑣𝑥 𝒊Ƹ + 𝑘𝑣𝑦 𝒋Ƹ

by a scalar:
 5 - Scalar product
If we have two vectors 𝑨 and 𝑩 , we can define the scalar product (or dot product) between the vectors as:

𝑨 ∙ 𝑩 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑦

The scalar product gives as a result a scalar quantity, and that 𝑨 ∙ 𝑩 = 𝑩 ∙ 𝑨 (the scalar product is commutative).

We can express the scalar product in terms of the magnitudes of the vectors 𝑨 and 𝑩 and the angle 𝜽 between them:

𝑨∙𝑩= 𝑨 𝑩 When the vectors are parallel (𝜃 = 0°)

𝑨 ∙ 𝑩 = 𝑨 𝑩 cos 𝜃
𝑨∙𝑩=0 When the vectors are perpendicular (𝜃 = 90°)

Example:
Consider the Force 𝑭 = − 3 𝑁 𝒊Ƹ + 6 𝑁 𝒋Ƹ and the displacement ∆𝒓 = 5 𝑚 𝒊Ƹ + 10 𝑚 𝒋.Ƹ
Calculate the scalar product 𝑭 ∙ ∆𝒓 and find the angle between the vectors.

𝑭 ∙ ∆𝒓 = −3𝑁 5 𝑚 + 6 𝑁 10 𝑚 = 𝟒𝟓 𝑵𝒎

𝑭 ∙ ∆𝒓 45 𝑁. 𝑚
𝑭 ∙ ∆𝒓 = 𝑭 ∆𝒓 cos 𝜃 𝜃 = cos −𝟏 𝜃 = cos−1 = 𝟓𝟑. 𝟐°
(6.71 𝑁)(11.2 𝑚)
𝑭 ∆𝒓