SCALARS & VECTORS

SCALAR QUANTITIES

Physical quantities which can completely be specified by a number (magnitude)

having an appropriate unit are known as "SCALAR QUANTITIES".
Scalar quantities do not need direction for their description.
Scalar quantities are comparable only when they have the same physical dimensions.
Two or more than two scalar quantities measured in the same system of units are equal if they
have the same magnitude and sign.
Scalar quantities are denoted by letters in ordinary type.
Scalar quantities are added, subtracted, multiplied or divided by the simple rules of algebra.

EXAMPLES

Work, energy, electric flux, volume, refractive index, time, speed, electric potential,
potential difference, viscosity, density, power, mass, distance, temperature, electric charge etc.

VECTORS QUANTITIES

Physical quantities having both magnitude and direction

with appropriate unit are known as "VECTOR QUANTITIES".
We can't specify a vector quantity without mention of deirection.
vector quantities are expressed by using bold letters with arrow sign such as:
vector quantities can not be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided by the simple rules of
algebra.
vector quantities added, subtracted, multiplied or divided by the rules of trigonometry and
geometry.
EXAMPLES

Velocity, electric field intensity, acceleration, force, momentum, torque, displacement, electric
current, weight, angular momentum etc.
REPRESENTATION OF VECTORS

On paper vector quantities are represented by a straight line with arrow head pointing the
direction of vector or terminal point of vector.
A vector quantity is first transformed into a suitable scale and then a line is drawn with the help of
the
scale choosen in the given direction.
Addition of vectors by Head to Tail method (Graphical Method)

Head to Tail method or graphical method is one of the easiest method used to find the
resultant vector of two of more than two vectors.

DETAILS OF METHOD

Consider two vectors and acting in the directions as shown below:

In order to get their resultant vector by head to tail method we must follow the following
steps:

STEP # 1

Choose a suitable scale for the vectors so that they can be plotted on the paper.
STEP # 2

Draw representative line of vector

Draw representative line of vector such that the tail of coincides with the head of vector .

STEP # 3

Join 'O' and 'B'.

represents resultant vector of given vectors and i.e.

STEP # 4

Measure the length of line segment and multiply it with the scale choosen initially to get the
magnitude of resultant vector.
STEP # 5

The direction of the resultant vector is directed from the tail of vector to the head of vector .
ADDITION OF VECTORS

PARALLELOGRAM LAW OF VECTOR ADDITION

Acccording to the parallelogram law of vector addition:

"If two vector quantities are represented by two adjacent sides or a parallelogram
then the diagonal of parallelogram will be equal to the resultant of these two vectors."

EXPLANATION

Consider two vectors . Let the vectors have the following orientation

parallelogram of these vectors is :

According to parallelogram law:
MAGNITUDE OF
RESULTANT VECTOR

Magintude or resultant vector can be determined by using either sine law or cosine law.
UNIT VECTOR-FREE VECTOR-POSITION VECTOR-NULL VECTOR

UNIT VECTOR

"A unit vector is defined as a vector in any specified direction whose magnitude
is unity i.e. 1. A unit vector only specifies the direction of a given vector. "
A unit vector is denoted by any small letter with a symbol of arrow hat ().
A unit vector can be determined by dividing the vector by its magnitude.
For example unit vector of a vector A is given by:
In three dimensional coordinate system unit vectors having the direction of the positive X-
axis, Y-axi and Z-axis are used as unit vectors.These unit vectors are mutually perpendicular to
each other.

FREE VECTOR

A vector that can be displaced parallel to itself and applied at any point is known as a FREE
VECTOR.
A free vector can be specified by giving its magnitude and any two of the angles between the
vector and coordinate axes.
POSITION VECTOR

Avector that indicates the position of a point in a coordinate system is referred to as POSITION
VECTOR.
Suppose we have a fixed reference point O, then we can specify the position the position of a
given point P with respect to point O by means of a vector having magnitude and direction
represented by a directed line segment OP .This vector is called POSITION VECTOR.
In a three dimensional coordinate system if O is at origin then,O(0,0,0) and P is any point say
P(x,y,z)
in this situation position vector of point P will be:
NULL VECTOR

A null vector is a vector having magnitude equal to zero.It is represented by . A null vector has no
direction or it may have any direction. Generally a null vector is either equal to resultant of two
equal vectors acting in opposite directions or multiple vectors in different directions.
MULTIPLICATION & DIVISION OF VECTOR BY A NUMBER (SCALAR)

MULTIPLICATION
OF A VECTOR
BY A SCALAR

When a vector is multiplied by a positive number (for example 2, 3 ,5, 60 unit etc.) or a scalar only
its magnitude is changed but its direction remains the same as that of the original vector.
If however a vector is multiplied by a negative number (for example -2, -3 ,-5, -60 unit etc.) or a
scalar not only its magnitude is changed but its direction also reversed.

The product of a vector by a scalar quantity (m) follows the following rules:
(m) = (m) which is called commutative law of multiplication.
m(n) = (mn) which is called associative law of multiplication .
(m + n) = m+ n which is called distributive law of multiplication .

DIVISION
OF A VECTOR
BY A SCALAR

The division of a vector by a scalar number (n) involves the multiplication of the vector by the
reciprocal of the number (n) which generates a new vector.
Let n represents a number or scalar and m is its reciprocal then the new vector is given by :
where m = 1/n
and its magnitude is given by:
The direction of is same as that of if (n) is a positive number.
The direction of is opposite as that of if (n) is a negative number.
RESOLUTION OF VECTOR

DEFINITION

The process of splitting a vector into various parts or components is called "RESOLUTION OF
VECTOR"
These parts of a vector may act in different directions and are called "components of vector".
We can resolve a vector into a number of components .Generally there are three
components of vector viz.
Component along X-axis called x-component
Component along Y-axis called Y-component
Component along Z-axis called Z-component
 Here we will discuss only two components x-component & Y-component which are
perpendicular to each other.These components are called rectangular components of vector.

METHOD OF RESOLVING
A VECTOR INTO
RECTANGULAR COMPONENTS

Consider a vector acting at a point making an angle q with positive X-axis. Vector is
represented by a line OA.From point A draw a perpendicular AB on X-axis.Suppose OB and BA
represents two vectors.Vector OA is parallel to X-axis and vector BA is parallel to Y-
axis.Magnitude
of these vectors are Vx and Vy respectively.By the method of head to tail we notice that the sum
of these vectors is equal to vector .Thus Vx and Vy are the rectangular components of vector .
Vx = Horizontal component of .
Vy = Vertical component of .
MAGNITUDE OF
HORIZONTAL COMPONENT

Consider right angled triangle DOAB

MAGNITUDE OF
VERTICAL COMPONENT

Consider right angled triangle DOAB

ADDITION OF VECTORS BY RECTANGULAR COMPONENTS METHOD

INTRODUCTION

Rectangular component method of addition of vectors is the most simplest method to add a
number of vectors acting in different directions.
DETAILS OF METHOD

Consider two vectors making angles q1 and q2 with +ve x-axis respectively.

STEP #01

Resolve vector into two rectangular components and .

Magnitude of these components are:

and
STEP #02

Resolve vector into two rectangular components and .

Magnitude of these components are:

and
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STEP #03

Now move vector parallel to itself so that its initial point (tail) lies on the terminal point (head) of
vector as shown in the diagram.
Representative lines of and are OA and OB respectively.Join O and B which is equal to resultant
vector of and
STEP #04
Resultant vector along X-axis can be determined as:
STEP # 05

Resultant vector along Y-axis can be determined as:

STEP # 06

Now we will determine the magnitude of resultant vector.

In the right angled triangle DBOD:
HYP2 = BASE2 + PERP2
STEP # 07

Finally the direction of resultant vector will be determined.

Again in the right angled triangle DBOD:
Where q is the angle that the resultant vector makes with the positive X-axis.
ROPERTIES OF VECTOR ADDITION

COMMUTATIVE LAW
OF
VECTOR ADDITION

Consider two vectors and . Let these two vectors represent two adjacent sides of a parallelogram.
We construct a parallelogram
OACB as shown in the diagram. The diagonal OC represents the resultant vector

From above figure it is clear that:

This fact is referred to as the commutative law of vectr addition .

ASSOCIATIVE LAW
OF
VECTOR ADDITION

The law states that the sum of vectors remains same irrespective of their order or grouping in
which they are arranged.
Consider three vectors , and
Applying "head to tail rule" to obtain the resultant of (+ ) and (+ )
Then finally again find the resultant of these three vectors :
This fact is known as the ASSOCIATIVE LAW OF VECTOR ADDITION.
Multiplication of two vectors
MORE DETAILS ON VECTORS
There are two types of the multiplication of two vectors:
Scalar Product OR Dot Product
Vector Product OR Cross Product

SCALAR PRODUCT
OR
DOT PRODUCT

Type of multiplication of two vectors in which the product is a scalar quantity is referred to
as "Scalar Product OR Dot Product"

MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF SCALAR PRODUCT

Consider two vectors and making an angle q with each other. Their scalar product or dot
product is defined as:

Scalar product of two vectors and is a scalar quantity which is equal to the
product of the magnitudes of and and the cosine of the angle between them.

EXPLANATION

EXAMPLE # 01
When we multiply two vector quantities force and displacement we get work which is a
scalar quantity. Therefore, we can say that work is the scalar product or dot product of force and
displacement.

EXAMPLE # 02

When we multiply two vector quantities electric intensity and normal area we get electric
flux which is a scalar quantity. Therefore, we can say that electric flux is the scalar product or dot
product of electric intensity and normal area
COMMUTATIVE LAW FOR DOT PRODUCT

COMMUTATIVE LAW
FOR
DOT PRODUCT

This law states that :

"The scalar product of two vectors and is equal to the magnitude
of vector times the projection of onto the direction of vector . "

Consider two vectors and ,the angle between them is q.

where represents the projection of vector onto the direction of vector .

Similarly,
Where represents the projection of vector onto the direction of vector .
Since
This shows that the dot product of two vectors does not chanfe with the change in the order of the
vectors to be multiplied.
This fact is known as the commutative of dot product.
DISTRIBUTIVE LAW FOR DOT PRODUCT

DISTRIBUTIVE LAW FOR

DOT PRODUCT

According to distributive law for dot product:

PROOF

Consider three vectors , and .Here we will use geometric interpretation of dot product by
drawing projection as shown below. First we obtain the sum of vectors and by head to tail rule
then we draw projection and from the terminal point of vector respectively onto the direction of .
The dot product is equal to the projection of vector onto the direction of multiplied by the
magnitude of . i.e.

VECTOR PRODUCT
 MORE DETAILS ON VECTORS

VECTOR PRODUCT
OR
CROSS PRODUCT

Type of multiplication of two vectors in which the product is also a vector quantity is
referred to as "Vector Product OR Cross Product"

MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF VECTOR PRODUCT

Consider two vectors and making an angle q with each other. Their vector product or
cross product is defined as:

vector product of two vectors and is a third vector whose magnitude is equal
to the product of the magnitudes of and and the sine of the angle between them. The direction of
the product vector is perpendicular to the plane containing both the vectors.

DIRECTION OF THIRD VECTOR

The vector which represents the cross product or vector product is perpendicular to the plane
containing vectors and and points in the direction in such a way as to make A , B and C vectors in
order.
Direction of third vector C can be determined by using right hand rule:

EXPLANATION

EXAMPLE # 01
When we multiply two vector quantities force arm and force we get torque which is also a
vector quantity. Therefore, we can say that torque is the vector product or cross product of force
arm and force.

EXAMPLE # 02

When we multiply two vector quantities velocity and magnetic flux density we get force
which is also a vector quantity. Therefore, we can say that force is the vector product or cross
product of velocity and magnetic flux density.
AREA OF PARALLELOGRAM

If two sides of a parallelogram are represented by two vectors A and B, then the
magnitude of their cross product will be equal to the area of parallelogram i.e.

PROOF

Consider a parallelogram OABC whose two sides are represented by two vectors A and
B as shown. The area of parallelogram OABC is equal to :
D = hA----------------(1)

Draw perpendicular CD on side OA.

Consider right angled triangle COD
sinq = h/OC
h= OC sinq
h= B sinq
Putting the value of h in equation (1), we get,

D = B sinq A
D = AB sinq