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2.5CartesianVectorsin3Dimensions
Many st ruct ures and machines involve 3-Dimensional Space.

The power pole has guy wires helping t o keep it upright
in high winds. How would you represent t he forces in t he
cables using Cart esian vect or form?






For t he radio t ower shown t o t he right , if you
know t he forces in t he t hree cables, how
would you det ermine t he result ant force
act ing at D, t he t op of t he t ower?




For solving problems in 3 dimensions, t he operat ions of vect or algebra are simplified if
we represent t he vect ors in Cart esian vect or form.
Ri ght -Handed Coor di nat e Syst em




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Rect angul ar Component s of a Vect or
Vect or A can be expressed as t he sum of it s t hree component
vect ors in t he direct ions of t he t hree Cart esian coordinat e axes x,
y, and z.







Car t esi an Uni t Vect or s
For a vect or A wit h a magnit ude of A, a unit vect or in t he same direct ion is defined as


Charact erist ics of a unit vect or:
a) I t s magnit ude is .
b) I t is .
c) I t point s in t he as t he original vect or, A.

The unit vect ors in t he Cart esian axis syst em are i, j, and k. They are unit vect ors in t he
posit ive x, y, and z direct ions, respect ively.


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Car t esi an Vect or Repr esent at i on
Vect or A can be expressed using t he unit vect ors as:


Not ice t hat t his separat es t he and
of each component vect or, which
simplifies t he operat ions of vect or algebra



Magni t ude of a Car t esi an Vect or
The proj ect ion of vect or A in t he x-y plane is A. The magnit ude
of A is found by :



The magnit ude of vect or A can now be obt ained as:



Di r ect i on of a Car t esi an Vect or
The direct ion of vect or A is defined by t he angles o, |, and .
o, |, and are measured bet ween t he and
t he posit ive x, y, and z direct ions, respect ively.
Each angle will lie bet ween 0 and 180.

A' =
A =
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Direct ion Cosines:
- Found using t rigonomet ry





- Recall t he definit ion of a unit vect or:

- And since
x y z
A A A = + + A i j k
- I t follows t hat


- Therefore,

- And since t he magnit ude of a unit vect or is 1:


This shows t hat t he t hree angles are not independent . I f we know t wo of t hem, we can
calculat e t he t hird.
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2.6AdditionofCartesianVectors
The procedure for adding Cart esian vect ors is t he same as for 2-D vect ors:
x y z
A A A = + + A i j k
x y z
B B B = + + B i j k
( ) ( ) ( ) + = + + A B i j k
( ) ( ) ( ) = + + A B i j k

For st at ics, t his applies t o a syst em of concurrent forces in 3 dimensions



Example:
Det ermine t he result ant force act ing on t he hook
shown