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Adding vectors using components.

If in [link] , A = 5 , 385 m · s - 1 at an angle of 21,8 to the horizontal and B = 5 m · s - 1 at an angle of 53,13 to the horizontal, find R .

  1. The first thing we must realise is that the order that we add the vectors does not matter. Therefore, we can work through the vectors to be added in any order.

  2. We find the components of A by using known trigonometric ratios. First we find the magnitude of the vertical component, A y :

    sin θ = A y A sin 21 , 8 = A y 5 , 385 A y = ( 5 , 385 ) ( sin 21 , 8 ) = 2 m · s - 1

    Secondly we find the magnitude of the horizontal component, A x :

    cos θ = A x A cos 21 . 8 = A x 5 , 385 A x = ( 5 , 385 ) ( cos 21 , 8 ) = 5 m · s - 1

    The components give the sides of the right angle triangle, for which the original vector, A , is the hypotenuse.

  3. We find the components of B by using known trigonometric ratios. First we find the magnitude of the vertical component, B y :

    sin θ = B y B sin 53 , 13 = B y 5 B y = ( 5 ) ( sin 53 , 13 ) = 4 m · s - 1

    Secondly we find the magnitude of the horizontal component, B x :

    cos θ = B x B cos 21 , 8 = B x 5 , 385 B x = ( 5 , 385 ) ( cos 53 , 13 ) = 5 m · s - 1

  4. Now we have all the components. If we add all the horizontal components then we will have the x -component of the resultant vector, R x . Similarly, we add all the vertical components then we will have the y -component of the resultant vector, R y .

    R x = A x + B x = 5 m · s - 1 + 3 m · s - 1 = 8 m · s - 1

    Therefore, R x is 8 m to the right.

    R y = A y + B y = 2 m · s - 1 + 4 m · s - 1 = 6 m · s - 1

    Therefore, R y is 6 m up.

  5. Now that we have the components of the resultant, we can use the Theorem of Pythagoras to determine the magnitude of the resultant, R .

    R 2 = ( R x ) 2 + ( R y ) 2 R 2 = ( 6 ) 2 + ( 8 ) 2 R 2 = 100 R = 10 m · s - 1

    The magnitude of the resultant, R is 10 m. So all we have to do is calculate its direction. We can specify the direction as the angle the vectors makes with a known direction. To do this you only need to visualise the vector as starting at the origin of a coordinate system. We have drawn this explicitly below and the angle we will calculate is labeled α .

    Using our known trigonometric ratios we can calculate the value of α ;

    tan α = 6 m · s - 1 8 m · s - 1 α = tan - 1 6 m · s - 1 8 m · s - 1 α = 36 , 8
  6. R is 10 m at an angle of 36 , 8 to the positive x -axis.

Adding and subtracting components of vectors

  1. Harold walks to school by walking 600 m Northeast and then 500 m N 40 o W. Determine his resultant displacement by means of addition of components of vectors.
  2. A dove flies from her nest, looking for food for her chick. She flies at a velocity of 2 m · s - 1 on a bearing of 135 in a wind with a velocity of 1,2 m · s - 1 on a bearing of 230 . Calculate her resultant velocity by adding the horizontal and vertical components of vectors.

Summary

  1. A scalar is a physical quantity with magnitude only.
  2. A vector is a physical quantity with magnitude and direction.
  3. Vectors may be represented as arrows where the length of the arrow indicates the magnitude and the arrowhead indicates the direction of the vector.
  4. The direction of a vector can be indicated by referring to another vector or a fixed point (eg. 30 from the river bank); using a compass (eg. N 30 W); or bearing (eg. 053 ).
  5. Vectors can be added using the head-to-tail method, the parallelogram method or the component method.
  6. The resultant of a number of vectors is the single vector whose effect is the same as the individual vectors acting together.

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Source:  OpenStax, Siyavula textbooks: grade 10 physical science [caps]. OpenStax CNX. Sep 30, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11305/1.7
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