Pātai: Scalars vs Vectors 🔗
In pairs, think about and discuss the similarities and differences between these two questions:
- Mr Chu puts 40 apples inside a box, except Miss Nam eats two of them. What is the total number of apples inside the box?
- Ms Carpenter lifts a plant off her desk with a force of $15N$ in the upwards direction, while the plant has a weight force of $5N$ acting down. What is the total force applied on the plant?
What is a Vector? 🔗
- Scalar = size only (e.g. mass)
- Vector = size and direction (e.g. velocity)
Discuss with your partner the difference between velocity and speed.
Example: Distance vs Displacement 🔗
- Distance is the amount an object has moved
- It is a scalar
- E.g. 3km
- Displacement is the distance from start to finish in a straight line
- It is a vector, because direction is also important
- E.g. 3km south west
Pātai 🔗
Ella drives to Sumner beach in the weekend because it is nice and hot outside. She drives $5km$ south and $10km$ west to get there.
- What is the total distance travelled by Ella?
- What is the total displacement of Ella?
Whakatika 🔗
- Distance: $d = 5km + 10km = 15km$
- Displacement: ?
Scalar or Vector? 🔗
- Distance
- Displacement
- Speed
- Velocity
- Acceleration
- Momentum
- Energy
- Force
- Temperature
- Mass
- Work
- Power
When dealing with problems which involve vector quantities (e.g. calculating velocity, force, etc.), you must consider the size and direction.
Which means: YOU MUST USE VECTOR DIAGRAMS (trigonometry) when working in two dimensions!
Vectors 🔗
- Have both direction and magnitude
- Drawn as an arrow
- Drawn with a ruler
- Drawn to scale (on a grid, typically)
- Drawn head-to-tail
- Can be added an subtracted
- Use Pythagoras and SOH CAH TOA to find values
Vector Addition 🔗
- To add vectors, we simply draw a the next vector from the arrowhead of the previous one.
- Draw the resultant vector from start to finish in a separate colour.
- Important: The resultant vector should be pointing from start position to finish position
Why can’t we add vectors algebraically? 🔗
Vector Addition Example 🔗
A car is driven 3 km east for 200 seconds, then 4 km south for 250 seconds, then 3 km west for 150 seconds.
- What is the total distance the car has travelled?
- What is the total displacement of the car?
- What is the average speed of the car?
- What is the average velocity of the car?
$$ \begin{aligned} speed = \frac{distance}{time} \cr velocity = \frac{displacement}{time} \end{aligned} $$
Vectors Worksheet 🔗
Mahi Tuatahi 🔗
Ngā Whāinga Ako 🔗
- Complete practical vector addition examples
- Introduce vector subtraction
- Calculate vector $\Delta$
Write the date and ngā whāinga ako in your book
Vector Subtraction 🔗
Consider acceleration:
- Positive acceleration will increase speed
- Negative acceleration will decrease speed
- Pātai: What is different?
- Whakatika: The direction of the acceleration!
Summary: Vector subtraction is simply vector addition, where the subtracted vectors have their directions inverted.
Vectors with $\Delta$ 🔗
Velocity is a vector and a change ($\Delta$) is calculated like this:
$$ \begin{aligned} \Delta v &= v_{f} - v_{i} \cr \end{aligned} $$
Pātai: Looks like vector subraction to me. Can we turn it into addition?
$$ \begin{aligned} & \Delta v = v_{f} - v_{i} \cr & \Delta v = v_{f} + (-v_{i}) \cr \end{aligned} $$
Example / Tauria 🔗
A soccer ball collides with the crossbar of a goalpost at $5ms^{-1}$. It rebounds at $4ms^{-1}$ in the opposite direction away from the crossbar.
- Draw a vector diagram illustrating this
- Determine the ball’s change in velocity using the $\Delta v$ equation
- Remember to use K,U,F,S,S
Practice / Whakawai 🔗
- ESA Activity 9A Q11-14
- Course Manual handout page 3-4
Mahi Tuatahi 🔗
- Mr Le Sueur walked his dog up Mt Barossa. He first walked 1.5km East in 30min and then 2.5km North in 1hr 15min. Draw a vector diagram of his displacement.
- Calculate his average speed
- Calculate his average velocity
- Give the direction of his displacement using an angle and a cardinal direction (e.g. 10 deg north of west).
Finding Directions 🔗
- SOH: $sin(\theta) = \frac{opp}{hyp}$
- CAH: $cos(\theta) = \frac{adj}{hyp}$
- TOA: $tan(\theta) = \frac{opp}{adj}$
Make sure your calculator is in degrees NOT radians!
Textbook Questions 🔗
- ESA Study Guide: Page 108-109, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q7, Q13.
- Extra: Homework booklet Q8
Mahi Tuatahi 🔗
- Sarah passes the soccer ball to Kya at a speed of $15ms^{-1}$. Kya then passes it off to Atua at a speed of $5ms^{-1}$. Draw a vector diagram for this change in velocity.
- Calculate the change in velocity (remember Pythagoras)
- Calculate the angle of the change (remember SOH-CAH-TOA)
Answer / Whakatika 🔗
$$ \begin{aligned} \Delta v^{2} &= v_{f}^{2} + v_{i}^{2} \cr \Delta v &= \sqrt{v_{f}^{2} + v_{i}^{2}} \cr \Delta v &= \sqrt{15^{2} + 5^{2}} \cr \Delta v &= \sqrt{250} = 15.81ms^{-1} \cr\cr tan(\theta) &= \frac{opp}{adj} \cr \theta &= tan^{-1}(\frac{15}{5}) = 75.6\degree \end{aligned} $$
Te Whāinga Ako 🔗
- Decompose vectors into horizontal and vertical components
Write the date and te whāinga ako in your book
Vector Components 🔗
- Similarly to how we create a resultant vector by adding two vectors, we can decompose a vector on an angle into its horizontal and vertical components.
- Pātai: Draw two vectors which add together to result in $\vec{C}$ (right-angled triangle).
Whakatika 🔗
- This is an important skill because the x and y components of a vector are independent.
- This means they do not influence each other (e.g. in projectile motion)
Pātai 🔗
- Mr Le Sueur tosses a ball across the classroom with an initial velocity of $v=4ms^{-1}$ (hypotenuse), on an angle of $40\degree$. Draw a labelled vector diagram
- Calculate the horizontal component of the velocity
- Calculate the vertical component of the velocity
Whakatika 🔗
$$ \begin{aligned} v_{x} &= v \times cos(\theta) && \text{Horizontal} \cr v_{y} &= v \times sin(\theta) && \text{Vertical} \end{aligned} $$
Textbook Pātai 🔗
- ESA Study Guide (2011): Page 108-109, Q1-14.
- ESA Study Guide (2008): Page 98-99, Q1-14.