EPHY111L

Vectors and Coordinate Systems

Instructor: Dr. Soumyendu Roy

Physics Department, School of Engineering and Applied Science,
Bennett University, Greater Noida, UP - 201310
 Vectors

• Physical Quantities are of two types: Scalar and vector

• Scalars: Have only magnitude (magnitude/size/length/a numerical value)
• Vectors: Have magnitude and direction

ഥ or 𝐀
• Representation: A or A
• Magnitude of A: 𝐀 or 𝐴

• Two vectors are equal only when they have the same length
and the same direction
2
 Vectors

෡ : vector with magnitude = one unit

• Unit vector, 𝐀
𝐀
෡=
• Unit vector in the direction of A: 𝐀
𝐀

• multiply a vector (A) by a scalar (b)

A
bA, if b is positive bA, if b is negative
3
 Vectors

• Addition of 2 vectors • Subtraction of 2 vectors

(arrow representation)

B
A+B B
A
-B
A
A-B

4
 Vectors
• Multiplication of 2 vectors:
1. End result is scalar: scalar product or dot product
2. End result is vector: vector product or cross product

• Dot product A.B = AB cosθ

• A.B = (projection of B on A) . A
= (projection of A on B) . B

(B cosθ)
A.B = 0, for perpendicular vectors (θ=π/2) 5
 Vectors
• Vector product or cross product, C = A X B
• Magnitude, C or 𝐂 = AB sinθ
• Direction of C is perpendicular to both A and B and given by the
right-hand thumb rule

AxB = 0, for parallel (θ=0) and anti-

parallel (θ=π) vectors

A.B = B.A (commutative) θ

AxB = −BxA (not commutative)
6
 Coordinate Systems: Cartesian Coordinates

• Coordinate system: way to quantify space

Y
• Broader sense: Quantify any vector entity 3

2 ● P (1.6, 1.8)
• Cartesian system: Simplest coordinate system, 1
defined by 3 mutually perpendicular
directions X, Y, and Z (in 3D) 1 2 3 X

• A vector in this system is represented by a set

of three numbers (in 3D), called components
• A = (Ax ,Ay ,Az )
7
 Coordinate Systems: Cartesian Coordinates
መ a set of unit vectors in x, y, z directions,
• Basis vectors, 𝐢,Ƹ 𝐣,Ƹ 𝐤:
respectively

(magnitude = 1)
(perpendicular)

𝐢Ƹ (parallel)
መ 𝐣Ƹ (perpendicular)
𝐤
8
 Coordinate Systems: Cartesian Coordinates
• Components of a vector = projections along the corresponding axes
z
A 𝐀. 𝑖Ƹ = proj. of 𝐀 . 𝑖Ƹ = 𝐴𝑥
Az 𝐀. 𝑗Ƹ = 𝐴𝑦 , 𝐀. 𝑘෠ = 𝐴𝑧
x Ay y
Ax Ax
x

• A vector = sum of its components

• Any vector can be expressed as a linear combination of the 9
basis vectors
 Coordinate Systems: Cartesian Coordinates

• Position vector: components are the coordinates (x,y,z)

• Will be using the components for calculations

2
𝐀. 𝐀 = 𝐴 = 𝐴2𝑥 + 𝐴2𝑦 + 𝐴2𝑧

10
 Coordinate Systems: Plane Polar Coordinates

• Choice of coordinate system depends on

symmetry of the problem
• Circular or spherical symmetry  polar
coordinates
• In 2D  plane polar coordinates
• Position coordinates are (r, θ)
• r is radial distance, i.e. distance from the origin
• θ is the angle between position vector and x
axis
11
 Coordinate Systems: Plane Polar Coordinates

• Relations between coordinates of

the two coordinate systems
P (r, θ) (x, y)

12
 Coordinate Systems: Plane Polar Coordinates

෡
• Basis or unit vectors are 𝐫ො and 𝛉
• 𝐫ො is along radial direction
෡ is along the tangent
• 𝛉

෡ changes
• Direction of 𝐫ො and 𝛉
with position
Image source: An Introduction to Mechanics, Daniel
Kleppner & Robert J. Kolenkow, Cambridge University Press
13
 Coordinate Systems: Plane Polar Coordinates

• Relations between unit

vectors of the 2 coordinate
systems

Image source: An Introduction to Mechanics, Daniel

Kleppner & Robert J. Kolenkow, Cambridge University Press 14
 Coordinate Systems: Plane Polar Coordinates

• Position vector in the two coordinate systems

• Infinitesimal displacement dr in the two systems

(Add the infinitesimal changes in x and y)

(Add the infinitesimal changes in radius and arc length)

15
 Vectors & Cartesian Coordinates
• Vector algebra using the Cartesian components

• Addition/Substraction

Add/Subtract the corresponding components

• Dot product
Multiply the corresponding
components and add
2
𝐀. 𝐀 = 𝐴𝐴 𝑐𝑜𝑠0 = 𝐴 = 𝐴2𝑥 + 𝐴2𝑦 + 𝐴2𝑧 Magnitude of a vector 1
 Vectors & Cartesian Coordinates
• Dot product in Cartesian coordinate system

𝐀. 𝐁 = 𝐴𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑧 𝑘෠ . 𝐵𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐵𝑦 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐵𝑧 𝑘෠

𝐀. 𝐁 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑥 𝑖.Ƹ 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑦 𝑖.Ƹ 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑖.Ƹ 𝑘෠ Expanding

+ 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑥 𝑗.Ƹ 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑦 𝑗.Ƹ 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑧 𝑗.Ƹ 𝑘෠
+ ………………… A.B = AB cosθ

2
 Vectors & Cartesian Coordinates

• Vector/cross Product in
Cartesian coordinate system

𝐀x𝐁 = 𝐴𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑧 𝑘෠ x 𝐵𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐵𝑦 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐵𝑧 𝑘෠
𝐀x𝐁 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑥 𝑖xƸ 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑦 𝑖xƸ 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑖xƸ 𝑘෠
+ 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑥 𝑗xƸ 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑦 𝑗xƸ 𝑗Ƹ + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑧 𝑗xƸ 𝑘෠
+ ………………… 𝐀x𝐁 = AB sinθ

𝐀x𝐁 = 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑦 𝑘෠ − 𝐴𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑗Ƹ
𝐢Ƹ
− 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑥 𝑘෠ + 𝐴𝑦 𝐵𝑧 𝑖Ƹ
መ
𝐤 𝐣Ƹ
+ ………………… 3
 Vectors & Cartesian Coordinates

Question: Consider two vectors and .

Find a third vector C which is perpendicular to both A and B.

Soln: By definition, AxB will be perpendicular to both A and B.

+ − +
Expanding a
AxB = determinant

−1 3 2 3 −1 3
𝐀x𝐁 = 𝑖Ƹ − 𝑗Ƹ + ..……… 𝑖Ƹ
1 −2 1 −2 1 −2
+
𝐀x𝐁 = −
4
 Vectors & Cartesian Coordinates
Question: Consider two vectors and .
Find the angle between them.

−1 𝐀.𝐁
Soln: Dot product A.B = AB cosθ  θ = cos
𝐴𝐵

= 2.1 – 1.1 – 3.2 = -5

𝐀. 𝐀 = 𝐴 2
→𝐴= 𝐴2𝑥 + 𝐴2𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧2 = 22 + −1 2 + 32 = 14

Similarly, B = ………………………………… = 6
Notice, 𝐀x𝐁 = AB sinθ
−5 𝐀x𝐁
θ= cos−1 = cos −1 −0.55 = 1230 θ= sin−1
𝐴𝐵
14x6
5
 Triple Product
Since the cross product of two vectors is itself a vector, it can be dotted or crossed with a third
vector to form a triple product.

Volume of a parallelepiped
 Triple Product

(A vector on the BC plane)

Question:

Answer: B is perpendicular to A and C

Position Vector
 Plane Polar Coordinates

• Relations between coordinates of Position vector

polar and Cartesian systems
 Follows from the geometry P (r, θ) (x, y)

X and Y y y
components of r
O
x
r, x, y and θ are part of
the right angled triangle
6
 Plane Polar Coordinates

• Relations between unit

vectors of the 2 coordinate
systems
 Follows from the geometry θ

Vector sum of the components

along X and Y directions Image source: An Introduction to Mechanics, Daniel
Kleppner & Robert J. Kolenkow, Cambridge University Press 7
 Plane Polar Coordinates

Question: Calculate rො x θ෠
Soln: Use the expressions for rො and θ෠ in terms of iƸ and jƸ and
take their vector product
iƸ jƸ k෠
rො x θ෠ = cosθ sinθ 0
−sinθ cosθ 0
෠
= iƸ 0 − jƸ 0 + k(cos 2
θ − −sin2 θ
= k෠
Using definition of vector product
rො x θ෠ = rො θ෠ . sin900 = 1
Direction by right hand thumb rule  along Z axis or k෠ 8
Polar Coordinate System-III
 Consider the figure,

 We can now derive the relationship between two sets of unit vectors 𝑟𝑟̂ = cos 𝜃𝜃 𝚤𝚤̂ + sin 𝜃𝜃 𝚥𝚥̂ and
𝜃𝜃̂ = − sin 𝜃𝜃 𝚤𝚤̂ + cos 𝜃𝜃 𝚥𝚥̂
 The inverse relationship reads: 𝚤𝚤̂ = cos 𝜃𝜃 𝑟𝑟̂ − sin 𝜃𝜃 𝜃𝜃̂ and 𝚥𝚥̂ = sin 𝜃𝜃 𝑟𝑟̂ + cos 𝜃𝜃 𝜃𝜃̂
 Position vector of an arbitrary point P in two coordinate systems is given by 𝑟𝑟⃗ = 𝑥𝑥 𝚤𝚤̂ + 𝑦𝑦 𝚥𝚥̂ ⇒
𝑟𝑟⃗ = 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟̂
 Infinitesimal displacement 𝑑𝑑 𝑟𝑟⃗ is given by 𝑑𝑑 𝑟𝑟⃗ = 𝑑𝑑𝑥𝑥 𝚤𝚤̂ + 𝑑𝑑𝑦𝑦 𝚥𝚥̂ = 𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟̂ + 𝑟𝑟𝑑𝑑𝜃𝜃 𝜃𝜃̂

Even Semester, 2020-21 BENNETT UNIVERSITY 17

 Spherical Polar Coordinate Systems

Unit Vectors: A Vector is written as:

 Spherical Polar Coordinate Systems
To obtain in terms of

Infinitesimal Displacement:
 Spherical Polar Coordinate Systems
Infinitesimal Volume:

Infinitesimal Surface: Depends on the choice of surface

If you are integrating on the surface of a sphere,

If the surface lies on the xy plane, so that the polar

angle is constant,
 Cylindrical coordinate System

Unit Vectors: , ,

Vectors written as:

 Cylindrical coordinate System
Infinitesimal Displacement:

Infinitesimal Volume:

Infinitesimal Surface: Depends on the choice of surface

If you are integrating on the surface of a cylinder,

da2 da1

If the surface lies on the xy plane,