CP2230 Structure of Physics II Fall 2022

Midterm: Formula Sheet

Vectors:

Two ways to write down vectors: Magnitude + direction or Components

Magnitude: The magnitude is the length of the vector. It is a positive number and is written by using the
same symbol as the vector, but without the arrow

Vector: 𝐹⃗ Magnitude: 𝐹

Components: The components of a vector can be thought of the “x” or “y” shadows. The components
are written as

x-component: 𝐹𝑥 y-component: 𝐹𝑦

magnitude + angle →components components → magnitude + angle

𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹 cos (𝜃) 𝐹 = (𝐹𝑥 2 + 𝐹𝑦 2 )1/2

𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹 sin (𝜃) 𝐹𝑦
𝜃0 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ൬ฬ ฬ൰
𝐹𝑥
note: 𝜃 is the angle to the positive x-axis
(going counterclockwise from the positive note: 𝜃0 is the smallest angle to the x-
x-axis) axis, as shown below

First quadrant: Second quadrant:

𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑦
𝐹
𝐹
𝜃 The angle to the positive
𝜃 𝜃0 x-axis depends on the
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑥 quadrant:

1: 𝜃 = 𝜃0
Third quadrant: Fourth quadrant:
2: 𝜃 = 180° − 𝜃0

𝜃 3: 𝜃 = −180° + 𝜃0
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑥
4: 𝜃 = −𝜃0
𝜃0 𝜃 𝜃
𝐹
𝐹
𝐹𝑦
𝐹𝑦
Addition of vectors: vectors are added using components
𝐸𝑥 = 𝐸1,𝑥 + 𝐸2,𝑥
𝐸ሬ⃗ = 𝐸ሬ⃗1 + 𝐸ሬ⃗2 is found by computing:
𝐸𝑦 = 𝐸1,𝑦 + 𝐸2,𝑦
CP2230 Structure of Physics II Fall 2022

Fundamental constants:

Electric charge: 𝑒 = 1.602 × 10−19 𝐶

𝑁 𝑚2
Coulomb’s constant: 𝑘 = 8.988 × 109 𝐶2

Electron mass: 𝑚𝑒 = 9.109 × 10−31 𝑘𝑔

Proton mass: 𝑚𝑝 = 1.673 × 10−27 𝑘𝑔

Electric force between two point charges: (Coulomb’s law)

same charge: opposite charge:
strength of force:
|𝑞1 𝑞2 |
𝐹=𝑘
𝑟2

𝑟 𝑟

Electric Field:
𝑁
unit: 𝐶 symbol: 𝐸ሬ⃗

Force experienced by a charge 𝑞 in an electric field 𝐸ሬ⃗ :

𝐹⃗ = 𝑞 𝐸ሬ⃗
Point charges:

Electric field (strength) at a distance 𝑟 from the point charge:

|𝑞|
𝐸=𝑘
𝑟2
Electric potential at a distance 𝑟 from the point charge:
𝑞
𝑉=𝑘
𝑟
Force of gravity on a celestial body:

𝐹𝑔 = 𝑚 𝑔

Earth: 𝑔 = 9.8 𝑚/𝑠 2