Prefixes Resultant Forces – Vectors at 90°

Scaling factors allow you to write a large range of numbers without A boat is being pilled toward the harbour by two winch motors.
1 Quantities and Units having to put them in standard form. Each motor is pulling with a force of 100N. At right angles to each
Prefix Multiple of unit other. Use a vector diagram to determine the resultant force on the
boat.
femto (f) x10-15
Systeme International (SI) units
There are seven SI units. The remaining units are described as
pico (p) x10-12
derived units and can be derived from the SI units.
nano (n) x10-9

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0
Quantity SI base unit

N
micro (μ) x10-6
mass kilogram, kg
length meter, m
milli (m) x10-3
time second, s centi (c) x10-2
Resultant Forces – Vectors not at 90°
current ampere, A kilo (k) x103 A horse drawn carriage is pulled by two horses as shown in the
temperature kelvin, K diagram. Use the parallelogram law of vectors to determine the
mega (M) x10 6
resultant force on the carriage.
amount of substance mole, mol
giga (G) x109
luminous intensity candela, cd
tera (T) x1012
Derived Units
Scalar and Vector Quantities
The remaining units that are not in the above list are able to be
derived from them. You will be expected to derive all other units. A scalar quantity has magnitude only. Examples includes The drawing must be done to scale and the resultant force (green
temperature and mass. line) measured with a ruler and converted back to a force. Search
We often give derived units other names such as the Coulomb. A vector quantity has both magnitude and direction. Examples parallelogram law of vectors on YouTube for a more detailed
include velocity and displacement. explanation
e.g. determine the equivalent to the Joule in SI units. A vector is shown using a directional arrow. The size of the arrow Splitting a Vector into Components
indicates the magnitude of the quantity.
charge = current x time Trigonometry can be used to split a vector into its horizontal and
C = A x s Resultant Forces vertical components
1C = 1As A resultant force is a single force which is the summation of many.
It has the same effect as all the others combined. e.g. a ball has been fired at a velocity of 10ms-1 at an angle of 30º
e.g. determine the equivalent to the Newton in SI units. from the horizontal. Find the horizontal and vertical components.
The car is being pushed to the
Force = mass x acceleration left by a force of 30N and to the
N = kg x ms-2 right by a force of 50N.
X = 10cos30 y = 10sin30
=8.7 ms-1 = 5ms-1
1N = 1kgms-2 The resultant force is 50N – 30N = 20N to the right

When the resultant force is not zero, the object must be accelerating
or decelerating.
When the resultant force is zero, the object could be moving at a
constant speed OR be stationary.