Engineering Mechanics :

STATICS

BNJ 10203
Lecture #06
By,
Dr. Muhammad A’imullah bin Abdullah
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
(UTHM)
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 DOT PRODUCT (Section 2.9)
Today’s Objective:
Students will be able to use the dot product to
a) determine an angle between two vectors,
b) determine the projection of a vector along a
specified line.

Learning Topics:
•Applications / Relevance
• Dot product - Definition
• Angle determination
• Determining the projection

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 APPLICATIONS

For this geometry, can you determine angles between the pole
and the cables?

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 DEFINITION

The dot product of vectors A and B is defined as A•B = A B cos .

(normally between force, F and distance, r)
Angle  is the smallest angle between the two vectors and is
always in a range of 0º to 180º.
Dot Product Characteristics:
1. The result of the dot product is a scalar (only magnitude).
2. The units of the dot product will be the product of the units
of the A and B vectors – (vector any magnitude and
direction)
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 DOT PRODUCT DEFINITON (continued)

Examples: i • j = cos 90o = 0

i • i = cos 0o =1

A•B = (Ax i + Ay j + Az k) • (Bx i + By j + Bz k)

= Ax Bx + AyBy + AzBz

Thus, to determine the dot product of two Cartesian vectors, multiply

their corresponding x,y,z components and sum their products
algebraically

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 USING THE DOT PRODUCT TO DETERMINE THE
ANGLE BETWEEN TWO VECTORS

For the given two vectors in the Cartesian form, one can find the
angle by
a) Finding the dot product, A • B = (AxBx + AyBy + AzBz ),
b) Finding the magnitudes (A & B) of the vectors A & B, and
c) Using the definition of dot product and solving for , i.e.,
 = cos-1 [(A • B)/(A B)], where 0º    180º . 7
DETERMINING THE PROJECTION OF A VECTOR

You can determine the components of a vector parallel and

perpendicular to a line using the dot product.
Steps:
1. Find the unit vector, Uaa´ along line aa´
2. Find the scalar projection of A along line aa´ by
A|| = A • U = AxUx + AyUy + Az Uz 8
 DETERMINING THE PROJECTION OF A VECTOR
(continued)

3. If needed, the projection can be written as a vector, A|| , by

using the unit vector Uaa´ and the magnitude found in step 2.
A|| = A|| Uaa´

4. The scalar and vector forms of the perpendicular component

can easily be obtained by
A  = (A 2 - A|| 2) ½ and
A  = A – A||
(rearranging the vector sum of A = A + A|| )

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 EXAMPLE
Given: The force acting on the pole
Find: The angle between the force
vector and the pole, and the
magnitude of the projection
of the force along the pole
OA.

Plan:
1. Get rOA
2.  = cos-1{(F • rOA)/(F rOA)}
3. FOA = F • uOA or F cos 
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 EXAMPLE (continued)

rOA = {2 i + 2 j – 1 k} m
rOA = (22 + 22 + 12)1/2 = 3 m
F = {2 i + 4 j + 10 k}kN
F = (22 + 42 + 102)1/2 = 10.95 kN

F • rOA = (2)(2) + (4)(2) + (10)(-1) = 2 kN·m

 = cos-1{(F • rOA)/(F rOA)}
 = cos-1 {2/(10.95 * 3)} = 86.5°
uOA = rOA/rOA = {(2/3) i + (2/3) j – (1/3) k}
FOA = F • uOA = (2)(2/3) + (4)(2/3) + (10)(-1/3) = 0.667 kN
Or FOA = F cos  = 10.95 cos(86.51°) = 0.667 kN 11
IN CLASS TUTORIAL 1 (GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING)

Given: The force acting on the pipe

Find: The magnitude of the
projected component of 100
N force acting along the
axis CB of the pipe.

Plan:

1. Get rCD and rCB

2. Get UCD and UCB
3. FCB = (F • UCD )·UCB
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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

rCD = {( XD – XC ) i + ( YD – YC ) j + ( ZD – ZC ) k }m
= {( 0 – 0.6 ) i + ( 1.2 – 0.4) j + ( 0 – (-0.2) ) k }m
= {-0.6i + 0.8j + 0.2k }m (position vector)
rCB = {( XB – XC ) i + ( YB – YC ) j + ( ZB – ZC ) k }m
= {( 0 – 0.6 ) i + ( 0 – 0.4) j + ( 0 – (-0.2) ) k }m
= {-0.6i - 0.4j + 0.2k }m (position vector)
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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)
1
 2 2
rCD  (0.6)  (0.8)  (0.2) 
2 2
 1.02m
1
 2 2
rCB  (0.6)  (0.4)  (0.2) 
2 2
 0.75m

uCD = rCD/|rCD| ={(-0.6/1.02) i + (0.8/1.02) j + (0.2/1.02) k}

={- 0.588 i + 0.784 j + 0.196 k} (unit vector)
uCB = rCB/|rCB| ={(-0.6/0.75) i + (-0.4/0.75) j + (0.2/0.75) k}
={- 0.8 i - 0.533 j + 0.267 k} (unit vector)

Method 1 (magnitude of the second force)

FCB = (F • uCD)· uCB =[(100)(-0.588)](-0.8) + [(100)(0.784)](-0.533)
+ [(100)(0.196)](0.27) = 10.5N
Fcart (CD) = Fal (CD) uCD
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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

Method 2 (magnitude of the second force)

 = cos-1{(FCD • rCB)/(FCD rCB)}

Fcart (CD) = Fal (CD) uCD =(100)(-0.588)i+ (100)(0.784)j + (100)(0.196)k

= [-58.8i + 78.4j + 19.6k ] N
FCD • rCB = (-58.8)(-0.6) + (78.4)(-0.4) + (19.6)(0.2) = 7.84 N·m

 = cos-1 {7.84/(100 * 0.75)} = 84°

FCB = FCD cos  = 100 cos(84°) = 10.5 N

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IN CLASS TUTORIAL 2 (GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING)

Given: The force acting on the pipe

Find: The angle between pipe
segment BA and BC

Plan:

1. Get rBA and rBC

2.  = cos-1{(rBC • rBA)/(rBC * rBA)}

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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

rBC = {( XC – XB ) i + ( YC – YB ) j + ( ZC – ZB ) k }m
= {( 0.6 – 0 ) i + ( 0.4 – 0) j + ( -0.2 – 0 ) k }m
= {0.6i + 0.4j - 0.2k }m
rBA = {( XA – XB ) i + ( YA – YB ) j + ( ZA – ZB ) k }m
= {( -0.3 – 0 ) i + ( 0 – 0) j + ( 0 – 0 ) k }m 18
= {-0.3i + 0j + 0k }m
 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)
1

rBC  (0.6) 2  (0.4) 2  (0.2) 
2 2
 0.75m

1

rBA  (0.3) 2  (0) 2  (0) 
2 2
 0.3m

 = cos-1{(rBC • rBA)/(rBC rBA)}

 = cos-1 {-0.18/(0.75 * 0.3)} = 143.1°

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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL

Q1 (2-113):
Determine the angle θ between the two cables.
Given:
a = 8m
b = 10m
c = 8m
d = 10m
e = 4m
f = 6m
FAB := 12kN

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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL (continued)

Q2 (2-108) :
Cable BC exerts a force of F = 28N on the top of the flagpole.
Determine the projection of this force along the z axis of the pole

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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL (continued)

Q3 (2-111) :
Determine the angle θ and φ between the wire segment

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