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notebook November 23, 2017
Vectors
A vector is a quantity that requires both magnitude and direction to fully
specify it, eg. velocity, Force, acceleration, displacement, weight.
A scalar requires only magnitude, eg. speed, time, length, mass, distance,
energy.
A vector quantity can be represented by an arrow, where the length of the
arrow represents the magnitude and the direction of the arrow shows the
direction of the vector quantity.
v = 5 m/s NE
Vectors can be represented in the following ways:
F F F
(bold)
Mar 1110:07 PM
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Vectors.notebook November 23, 2017
Vector Addition
Two or more vectors can be combined to produce a single resultant
vector. When adding vectors must be placed headtotail. The head
(arrow) of one vector needs to be placed at the
tail of the second vector.
Example 1
10 km/hr 2 km/hr 12 km/hr
toy car wind resultant = toy car + wind
Example 2
10 km/hr 2 km/hr 8 km/hr
toy car wind resultant = toy car wind
Example 3
10 km/hr 2 km/hr
car wind resultant ???
How to construct headtotail vectors and draw resultants:
http://www.walterfendt.de/ph14e/resultant.htm
Mar 1110:38 PM
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Vectors.notebook November 23, 2017
Vector Resultant
Example
10 km/hr 2 km/hr
car wind resultant ???
Draw vectors headtotail and then add using
pythagoras' theorem
Pythagoras' Theorem
R c
2 b
θ
θ
10 a
a2 + b2 = c2
R 2 = 102 + 22
sin = b
θ
R = √(10 2 + 2 2 ) c
cos = a
θ
c
R = 10.198 km/hr tan = b
θ
a
Tan θ = 2
10 N
θ = 11.31 0
W E
∴ Resultant is 10.198 km/hr in a direction E11.31 0 N
S
Mar 1110:53 PM