ABSTRACT
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• distinguish between scalars and vectors • recognise how vectors are represented • add vectors using the nose-to-tail method • add vectors using the parallelogram method • resolve vectors into their horizontal and vertical components • add vectors by calculation – horizontal and vertical components, complex numbers • perform vector subtraction • understand relative velocity • understand i, j, k notation
This chapter initially explains the difference between scalar and vector quantities and shows how a vector is drawn and represented. Any object that is acted upon by an external force will respond to that force by moving in the line of the force. However, if two or more forces act simultaneously, the result is more difficult to predict; the ability to add two or more vectors then becomes important. This chapter thus shows how vectors are added and subtracted, both by drawing and by calculation, and finding the resultant of two or more vectors has many uses in
engineering. (Resultant means the single vector which would have the same effect as the individual vectors.) Relative velocities and vector i, j, k notation are also briefly explained.
