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Peter's Index Physics Home Lecture 2b Course Index Lecture 4

Bridging Course - Lecture 3 (Vectors and Scalars)

In this lecture the following are introduced:

• Descartes and Cartesian co-ordinates
• Vectors and scalars
• Polar co-ordinates
• Adding vectors sequentially and simultaneously
• Subtracting vectors
• Vector components and adding by components

Where am I?

This question has either many answers or none; because it is incomplete. In spatial terms it probably asks: "where am I, with
reference to my home, or my destination?"

Cartesian Coordinates
The Cartesian co-ordinate system has an origin and two (or
three) perpendicular axes, "x" and "y" (and "z"). A point is
space is specified by co-ordinates along each axis.

Rene Descartes (1596 to 1650) said, we need a reference

point and reference direction and from this we can uniquely
identify every point in a plane (or in space).

He continued with this approach and created what is known

as Coordinate Geometry.

Distance and displacement

Once we can uniquely define where we are, we have to distinguish between distance and displacement.
The distance you measure between two points depends on The displacement has the length and direction of the
the actual path you take between the points (and there are an minimum straight-line between the two points.
infinite number of paths you can take!).

Vectors and Scalars

Because displacement has both length and direction, two numbers are needed to describe it. It is called a "vector" quantity.
Distance only needs one number. Quantities that are described by one number are called "scalars". Examples of scalars are
mass, angle and time.
To distinguish between vectors and scalars, textbooks use boldface type for vectors and plainface for scalars.

You need to distinguish between displacement (written as r) and distance (written as r).

In Cartesian co-ordinates:
a displacement is described as r = (rx , ry).
It is also written with vector displacements as r = rx + ry
where rx is a vector along the "x" (or say, Easterly) axis,
and ry is a vector along the "y" (or say, Northerly) axis.

A vector of length one unit (a "unit vector") along the x-axis is

written as i and a unit vector along the y-axis is written as j. Hence
rx = rxi and ry = ryj.

So r = rx + ry = rxi + ryj = (rx , ry)

Polar co-ordinates
There is another system called the Polar co-ordinate system,
where you specify a displacement by its straight-line length and its
angle from the reference direction.

In the Polar co-ordinate system,

r = (r , θ), where the way θ is defined depends on the angle
convention and circular measure.
Example: an angle which is 22O towards the East of South.

Angle conventions Circular measure

convention measured as angle is: 1 revolution = 3600
azimuth clockwise from North 158O 400 grads
bearing smaller angle to cardinal South 22O East 1024 brads
point 64,000 mils
maths anti-clockwise from positive 292O 2π (Greek: 2*pi) radians
x axis Angles measured in radians are
preferred.

The angle between two vectors

This can be tricky at times, so it is best to put the two "tails" of the
arrows together and then measure the smaller angle.

Changing between Cartesian and Polar

r = (400m, 300m) in Cartesian notation is shown in the diagram For Polar notation with maths angle convention.
below.

so, r = (500m, 370)

Adding displacements
Displacements add in a different way from familiar
quantities like mass, angle and time. One way to show how
they add is to draw a scale diagram.

Here are two displacements, 3000 km Sydney to Darwin

then 2600 km Darwin to Perth. They are equal to a 3200 km
displacement Sydney to Perth.

This triangle diagram is clear when the displacements are

sequential. In the triangle method you place the tail of the
second arrow on the head of the first arrow and then join
start to finish.

When things happen simultaneously, a parallelogram

diagram is appropriate (though in practice, either can be
used for either situation).

Subtracting vectors
To subtract vectors you simply add the negative. The
negative of a vector has the same size but is in the opposite
direction to its positive direction.

Formal definition of Vector quantities

Vectors are quantities which have

• size (or magnitude),
• direction, and
• add like displacements.

Force
A force is a physical push or pull. It is vector quantity because both size and direction matter. The size is measured in a unit
called the Newton. When a force is seen to have effects at right angles, the parts of the force in those directions are called
"components".

This can be seen in the case of a yacht where the wind force (at right angle to the sail area) pushes the yacht forward but also
tilts it sideways.

We can express this in a diagram this as follows

Component Notation

If North is vertically up the page, then θ is an azimuthal angle and in polar coordinates, the force F = (F , θ). It would be
written in Cartesian notation (with x as the East direction) as (F·Sinθ , F·Cosθ)

But note carefully:

If the maths convention is to be used, then the angle would be the complement of θ (i.e. 90O - θ) and so the force would be
written in Cartesian notation as (F·Cosθ , F·Sinθ)

Adding by components

Instead of scale diagrams it is often more accurate to add vectors by using the method of components. For example, adding
two vectors (with the maths convention for angles). Let the vectors be A=(A , α) and B=(B , β)

Taking components, i.e. expressing in Cartesian form, A = (A·Cosα , A·Sinα ) and B = (B·Cosβ , B·Sinβ )

The magnitude of the sum is written as: and the angle is

|A+B|=

The sum is thus, (|A+B|,θ).

Vector addition example 1

Add the vectors (3,13) and (4,7) then subtract (2,8) and express the result in polar form.
Vector addition example 2

Add the vectors (2,30O) and (3,45O) then subtract (1,60O), (where the angles follow the maths convention). Express the
result in Cartesian form.

Summarising:

The Cartesian co-ordinate system has an origin and perpendicular axes. A point is space is specified by co-ordinates along
each axis.
The distance between two points depends on the actual path you take.
The displacement has the length and direction of the minimum straight-line between the two points.
Polar coordinates have a straight-line length in a specified direction.
Vectors can be added by arrowed lines in scale diagrams. The arrowed lines may be positioned sequentially or
simultaneously.
Vector subtraction is done by adding the negative.
Vector components are vectors at right angles which add to give the original vector.
Vectors may be added without scale diagrams by using components.

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