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NSCI 121-___

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VECTOR AND SCALAR QUANTITIES

Classification of Physical Quantities
1. Scalars- are quantities which can be completely described by its
magnitude only.
Ex. Mass, speed, distance, work, time, temperature, energy
2. Vectors- are quantities which have both magnitude and direction.
Ex. Acceleration, momentum, velocity, force, displacement, torque
Vector Representation

Vector quantities are represented by arrows pointing to a particular

direction.
a. Tail indicates the vectors origin
b. Body of the arrow represents the vectors magnitude
c. Arrowhead indicates the direction of the vector

The symbol for a vector quantity is a capital letter in boldface such as

force.

DATE:_____________________
PREPARED BY: MS. NEIS

Operations on vectors

Resultant vector

for

Understanding the direction

The sum of two or more vector quantities.

The letter R is usually used to represent the resultant

Case A

The resultant of two vectors acting along

the same direction is a vector whose
magnitude is equal to the sum of their
magnitudes and acts on the same
direction.
Case B

For vectors having different magnitude and

acting on opposite directions, the resultant is
obtained by subtracting their
magnitudes and taking the direction of
the vector with greater magnitude.
Case C

The resultant is a vector that makes an angle

with respect to the horizontal or vertical
vectors.
There are two methods to determine the resultant
vector, either graphically or analytically.
A. Graphical Method
1. Parallelogram method - States that the
resultant of two forces is the diagonal of the
parallelogram whose initial sides are the
vectors of the given forces.

EX. 1

= 200 N, right

EX. 2. 10m 30 N of E

2. Polygon method- The resultant vector is drawn

from the tail of the first vector to the head of the last
vector.

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NSCI 121-___

Lombos Avenue, San Isidro, Paraaque City

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EXAMPLE:
Two forces are acting on a particle. Force A is 3.0 N directed north and the other
force B is 4.0 N 30 north of east. Find the resultant force using the (a) parallelogram
and (b) polygon method.

DATE:_____________________
PREPARED BY: MS. NEIS

B. Analytical Method
Component Method- This involves the resolution of vectors into its x and ycomponents using trigonometric functions.

Example:
A man walks 95 km, East then 55 km, north. Calculate his RESULTANT
DISPLACEMENT.

c2 a 2 b2 c a 2 b2
c Resultant 952 552
c 12050 109.8 km

The LEGS of the triangle are called the COMPONENTS.

The process of splitting the vector into its components is called
RESOLUTION.

In the previous example, DISPLACEMENT was asked for and since it is a VECTOR we
should include a DIRECTION on our final answer.
To find the value of the angle we use a Trig function called TANGENT.

Tan

opposite side 55

0.5789
adjacent side 95

Tan 1 (0.5789) 30
So the COMPLETE final answer is :

109.8 km, 30 North of East

(use cosine law and sine law if there is no right triangle)

NAME:
SUBJ- SEC:

_____________________________
NSCI 121-___

Lombos Avenue, San Isidro, Paraaque City

www.patts.edu.ph

Vector subtraction
Uses the concept of negative of a vector-written as V is a vector equal in
magnitude to V but oppositely directed.

Example: give the negative of the following vectors:

a. A= 2.0 m north
b. B=4.0 m 30 south of west
Answers: a. A= 2.0 south, b. B=4.0 north of west
EXERCISE: practice Exercise 2.13
Find B A for the vectors given in previous example. Make a vector diagram. Use
either parallelogram method or polygon method.
Scale: 1 cm = 1 m

DATE:_____________________
PREPARED BY: MS. NEIS

Vector Multiplication
A. Product of a vector quantity and a scalar quantity
The magnitude of the product is scalar multiplied by a vector. The direction
of the product is the same as the direction of the vector quantity if the
product is negative, and opposite if product is negative.
Example:
What force is needed to give a 15 kg mass an acceleration of 2.4 m/s2 directed
to the east?

B. Dot Product or Scalar Product

The dot product of two vector quantities A and B is a scalar product.
It is written as
C.

Cross Product or Vector Product

The cross product of two vectors A and B will result to a vector for its
product.
It is written as
Uses right-hand rule

Example:
Two vectors F and D are perpendicular to each other as shown. Find (a) the dot
product and (b) the cross product of F and D.
Solution:
The angle between the two vectors is
90.
a.
b.
F= 2.0 N
D= 2.5
directed out of the page as determined
m
by the right hand rule.
SOLVE:
Using the same vectors, find (a) D F and D F. Is dot product commutative? Is
vector product commutative?

NAME:
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NSCI 121-___

Lombos Avenue, San Isidro, Paraaque City

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EXERCISES: practice exercises 2.4 & 2.5

1. Displacement vector A is 4.5 km north. Displacement vector B is 3.0 km 50
N of W. Find their resultant using the law of cosine and law of sine.
RTF:
Given:
Solution:

2.
RTF:

DATE:_____________________
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The resultant of two mutually perpendicular vectors is 5.0 units and makes
60 with one of them. Find the magnitudes of these vectors.

Given:
Solution:

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3.
RTF:

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Vector A of magnitude 5.0 units has a horizontal component of 2.0 units.

Find the angle that the vector A makes with the horizontal. Determine also
the vertical component of vector A.

Solution:

RTF:

RTF:

A 4.0 N box is placed on a plane inclined 20 with the horizontal. Find the
components of its weight parallel and perpendicular to the plane.

Given:

Given:

4.

5.

A bear, searching for food wanders 35 meters east then 20 meters north.
Frustrated, he wanders another 12 meters west then 6 meters south.
Calculate the bear's displacement.

Given:
Solution:

DATE:_____________________
PREPARED BY: MS. NEIS

Solution: