CHAPTER VII

REFERENCES

Abbas, R. W. (2021). Essentials Of Vectors And Their Application In Different

Areas Of Civil Engineering Technology. Science International.

CUEMATH. (n.d.). Types of Vectors. Retrieved from CUEMATH:

https://www.cuemath.com/geometry/types-of-vectors/

LibreText. (n.d.). 2.2: Scalars and Vectors (Part 1). Retrieved from LibreText
Physics: https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi-
tonPurSEAxUBavUHHbWTAUMQFnoECCEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fphys.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FUniversity_Physics
%2FUniversity_Physics_(OpenStax)%2FBook
%253A_University_Physics_I_-_Mech

thePhysicsClassroom. (n.d.). Vectors - Motion and Forces in Two Dimensions.

Retrieved from the Physics Classroom:
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors

UCFPressbooks. (2016). 2.1 Scalars and Vectors. Retrieved from UCF

Pressbooks:
https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/osuniversityphysics/chapter/2-1-scalars-
and-vectors/

CHAPTER I
 INTRODUCTION &
DISCUSSION OF THEORIES

OBJECTIVES:

1. TO DETERMINE THE MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION OF THE RESULTANT

OF A SET OF CONCURRENT AND COPLANAR FORCES GRAPHICALLY AND
ANALYTICALLY.

2. TO UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF VECTOR ADDITION AND

EQUILIBRIUM OF CONCURRENT AND COPLANAR FORCES.

3. TO EVALUATE SOURCES OF ERROR AND SOURCES OF UNCERTAINTY IN

EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS AND CALCULATIONS.

DISCUSSION OF THEORIES

MANY FAMILIAR PHYSICAL QUANTITIES CAN BE SPECIFIED

COMPLETELY BY GIVING A SINGLE NUMBER AND THE APPROPRIATE
UNIT. FOR EXAMPLE, “A CLASS PERIOD LASTS 50 MIN” OR “THE GAS
TANK IN MY CAR HOLDS 65 L” OR “THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO
POSTS IS 100 M.” A PHYSICAL QUANTITY THAT CAN BE SPECIFIED
COMPLETELY IN THIS MANNER IS CALLED A SCALAR QUANTITY.
SCALAR IS A SYNONYM OF “NUMBER.” TIME, MASS, DISTANCE,
LENGTH, VOLUME, TEMPERATURE, AND ENERGY ARE EXAMPLES OF
SCALAR QUANTITIES. SCALAR QUANTITIES THAT HAVE THE SAME
PHYSICAL UNITS CAN BE ADDED OR SUBTRACTED ACCORDING TO
THE USUAL RULES OF ALGEBRA FOR NUMBERS.

MANY PHYSICAL QUANTITIES, HOWEVER, CANNOT BE

DESCRIBED COMPLETELY BY JUST A SINGLE NUMBER OF PHYSICAL
UNITS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN THE U.S. COAST GUARD DISPATCHES A
SHIP OR A HELICOPTER FOR A RESCUE MISSION, THE RESCUE TEAM
MUST KNOW NOT ONLY THE DISTANCE TO THE DISTRESS SIGNAL,
BUT ALSO THE DIRECTION FROM WHICH THE SIGNAL IS COMING SO
THEY CAN GET TO ITS ORIGIN AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. PHYSICAL
QUANTITIES SPECIFIED COMPLETELY BY GIVING A NUMBER OF
UNITS (MAGNITUDE) AND A DIRECTION ARE CALLED VECTOR
QUANTITIES. EXAMPLES OF VECTOR QUANTITIES INCLUDE
DISPLACEMENT, VELOCITY, POSITION, FORCE, AND TORQUE. IN THE
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS, PHYSICAL VECTOR QUANTITIES ARE
REPRESENTED BY MATHEMATICAL OBJECTS CALLED VECTORS. WE
CAN ADD OR SUBTRACT TWO VECTORS, AND WE CAN MULTIPLY A
VECTOR BY A SCALAR OR BY ANOTHER VECTOR, BUT WE CANNOT
DIVIDE BY A VECTOR. THE OPERATION OF DIVISION BY A VECTOR IS
NOT DEFINED.

THE VECTORS ARE NAMED DIFFERENTLY AS TYPES OF

VECTORS BASED ON THEIR PROPERTIES SUCH AS MAGNITUDE,
DIRECTION, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER VECTORS.
THESE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VECTORS ARE HELPFUL IN
PERFORMING NUMEROUS ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS AND
CALCULATIONS OF VECTORS. VECTORS THAT HAVE 0 MAGNITUDE
ARE CALLED ZERO VECTORS. VECTORS THAT HAVE MAGNITUDE
EQUALS TO 1 ARE CALLED UNIT VECTORS. POSITION VECTORS ARE
USED TO DETERMINE THE POSITION AND DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT
OF THE VECTORS IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE.

TWO OR MORE VECTORS ARE SAID TO BE EQUAL IF THEIR

CORRESPONDING COMPONENTS ARE EQUAL. EQUAL VECTORS HAVE
THE SAME MAGNITUDE AS WELL AS DIRECTION. THEY MAY HAVE
DIFFERENT INITIAL AND TERMINAL POINTS BUT THE LENGTH AND
DIRECTION MUST BE EQUAL. THERE IS ALSO NEGATIVE VECTORS. A
VECTOR IS SAID TO BE THE NEGATIVE OF ANOTHER VECTOR IF THEY
HAVE THE SAME MAGNITUDES BUT OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. IF
VECTORS A AND B HAVE EQUAL LENGTHS BUT OPPOSITE
DIRECTIONS, THEN VECTOR A IS SAID TO BE THE NEGATIVE OF
VECTOR B OR VICE VERSA.

A VARIETY OF MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS CAN BE

PERFORMED WITH AND UPON VECTORS. ONE SUCH OPERATION IS
THE ADDITION OF VECTORS. TWO VECTORS CAN BE ADDED
TOGETHER TO DETERMINE THE RESULT (OR RESULTANT). THIS
PROCESS OF ADDING TWO OR MORE VECTORS HAS ALREADY BEEN
DISCUSSED IN AN EARLIER UNIT. RECALL IN OUR DISCUSSION OF
NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION, THAT THE NET FORCE EXPERIENCED
BY AN OBJECT WAS DETERMINED BY COMPUTING THE VECTOR SUM
OF ALL THE INDIVIDUAL FORCES ACTING UPON THAT OBJECT. THAT
IS THE NET FORCE WAS THE RESULT (OR RESULTANT) OF ADDING UP
ALL THE FORCE VECTORS. DURING THAT UNIT, THE RULES FOR
SUMMING VECTORS (SUCH AS FORCE VECTORS) WERE KEPT
RELATIVELY SIMPLE.

THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM IS A USEFUL METHOD FOR

DETERMINING THE RESULT OF ADDING TWO (AND ONLY TWO)
VECTORS THAT MAKE A RIGHT ANGLE TO EACH OTHER. THE
METHOD IS NOT APPLICABLE FOR ADDING MORE THAN TWO
VECTORS OR FOR ADDING VECTORS THAT ARE NOT AT 90-DEGREES
TO EACH OTHER. THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM IS A
MATHEMATICAL EQUATION THAT RELATES THE LENGTH OF THE
SIDES OF A RIGHT TRIANGLE TO THE LENGTH OF THE HYPOTENUSE
OF A RIGHT TRIANGLE.

THE DIRECTION OF A RESULTANT VECTOR CAN OFTEN BE

DETERMINED BY USE OF TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS. MOST
STUDENTS RECALL THE MEANING OF THE USEFUL MNEMONIC SOH
CAH TOA FROM THEIR COURSE IN TRIGONOMETRY. SOH CAH TOA IS
A MNEMONIC THAT HELPS ONE REMEMBER THE MEANING OF THE
THREE COMMON TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS - SINE, COSINE, AND
TANGENT FUNCTIONS. THESE THREE FUNCTIONS RELATE AN ACUTE
ANGLE IN A RIGHT TRIANGLE TO THE RATIO OF THE LENGTHS OF
TWO OF THE SIDES OF THE RIGHT TRIANGLE. THE SINE FUNCTION
RELATES THE MEASURE OF AN ACUTE ANGLE TO THE RATIO OF THE
LENGTH OF THE SIDE OPPOSITE THE ANGLE TO THE LENGTH OF THE
HYPOTENUSE. THE COSINE FUNCTION RELATES THE MEASURE OF
AN ACUTE ANGLE TO THE RATIO OF THE LENGTH OF THE SIDE
ADJACENT THE ANGLE TO THE LENGTH OF THE HYPOTENUSE. THE
TANGENT FUNCTION RELATES THE MEASURE OF AN ANGLE TO THE
RATIO OF THE LENGTH OF THE SIDE OPPOSITE THE ANGLE TO THE
LENGTH OF THE SIDE ADJACENT TO THE ANGLE. THE THREE
EQUATIONS BELOW SUMMARIZE THESE THREE FUNCTIONS IN
EQUATION FORM.

VECTORS HAVE MANY USES IN DIFFERENT AREAS. IN PHYSICS,

THEY HELP WITH UNDERSTANDING FORCES, VELOCITIES,
ACCELERATIONS, AND MOMENTS. ENGINEERS USE VECTORS TO
DESIGN STRUCTURES AND MACHINES BY MODELING FORCES,
DISPLACEMENTS, AND STRESSES. NAVIGATION SYSTEMS USE
VECTORS TO FIND LOCATIONS AND DIRECTIONS ACCURATELY. IN
COMPUTER GRAPHICS, VECTORS HELP CREATE SHAPES AND IMAGES
FOR GAMES AND VIRTUAL REALITY. AEROSPACE ENGINEERS USE
VECTORS TO NAVIGATE SPACECRAFT AND DESIGN FLIGHT
CONTROLS. IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, VECTORS EXPLAIN
ALTERNATING CURRENTS AND VOLTAGES IN ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS.
IN ROBOTICS, VECTORS HELP PLAN ROBOT MOVEMENTS AND
CONTROL THEM. IN MATH AND GEOMETRY, VECTORS ARE BASIC
CONCEPTS USED IN VARIOUS CALCULATIONS.