

The second concept that the diagram shows is that two vectors with thesame magnitude and direction are the same. This is sometimes called the tip of a vector. With vectors, direction isvery important so we put an arrowhead in the direction that the vector isgoing. The first is the concept ofthe tip and the tail of a vector. The following diagram illustrates two points. The first step when solving any problemin physics is to draw a picture. Vector DiagramsWe use vector diagrams to visualize what is going on in a physical system.Even though we can work out most problems algebraically, a picture can helppoint out subtleties of a problem. The table belowshows the color scheme that we will be using from now on.

Wewill use colors to distinguish what each vector represents. Note: The drawings on this page contain many vector diagrams. Vectors, unlike scalars, have two characteristics, magnitude and direction. Multi-dimensional quantities are those which require more thanone number to completely describe them. Vector: Vectors are used to describe multi-dimensionalquantities.
#Vector physics how to#
Understand how to add, subtract and multiply vectors.ĭefinitions Scalar: Scalars are used to describe one dimensional quantities,that is, quantities which require only one number to completely describethem.Translate vectors to and from their components.See some examples of vector and scalar quantities.Learn the definitions of scalars and vectors.These two typesare known as scalars and vectors. In mechanics, we will use two types of quantities torepresent concepts like force, mass and time numerically. With it, we can quantitatively describe the world around us.
