Lecture 3: Vectors

Department of Civil and

Environmental Engineering

Vectors
(part 1)

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

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Vectors
Objectives:

a) Define vectors and scalars

b) Define unit vectors and Cartesian unit vectors

c) Use trigonometry laws for vector addition

d) Use vector decomposition to resolve vectors into

components

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

Scalars and Vectors

• A scalar is any positive or negative physical quantity
that can be completely specified by its magnitude
• Examples include:
• Length
• Mass
• Time

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

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Scalars and Vectors
• A vector is any physical quantity that requires both a
magnitude and a direction for its complete
description
• Examples include:
• Force
• Position
• Moment
• A vector is shown graphically by an arrow

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

Scalars and Vectors

• The vector quantities that we will consider in this
course are:
• Force vectors (representing a push or a pull
along the vector axis)
• Moment vectors (representing rotation about the
vector axis)
• Position vectors (distance along the vector axis
to a point, relative to the origin of the coordinate
system being used)
• Displacement vectors (relative distance along
the vector axis between two points)
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Scalars and Vectors
• A force is a vector quantity that has:
1. A magnitude 2. A direction
3. A sense 4. A point of application
• A force vector can be represented graphically by an
arrow that shows its magnitude, direction and sense

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

Force Vectors
Magnitude
• Characterized by size in some units, e.g., 34 N
• Represented by length of the arrow according to
some scale, say, 1 cm = 10 N  3.4 cm = 34 N

Direction
• The angle between a reference axis and the arrow’s
line of action

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Force Vectors
Sense
• Indicated by the arrowhead (one of two possible
directions)

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

Unit Vector
• For a vector A with a magnitude of A the unit vector
is defined as
A
uA 
A

• The unit vector:

• Has a magnitude of 1
• Is dimensionless
• Points in same direction as the original vector A

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Unit Vector
• The vector A can then be represented as

A  Au A

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Cartesian Unit Vectors

• In three dimensions the Cartesian unit vectors i, j,
and k are used to designate the directions of the x, y,
and z axes, respectively

The Cartesian unit vectors have

a dimensionless magnitude of 1,
and a sense that is given by
either a plus or minus sign to
show whether they are pointing
along the positive or negative x,
y, or z axes.

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Vector Notation
• In the lecture notes and textbook a vector quantity is
indicated by a letter in boldface type

• While the magnitude of a vector is denoted by an

italicized letter
F

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Vector Notation
• For handwritten work a vector is usually indicated by
drawing an arrow above the letter representing the
vector

F

• While the magnitude can be represented by


F

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Vector Notation
• Similarly, unit vectors can be denoted in handwritten
work by drawing a hat symbol above the letter to
give

i  iˆ j  ĵ k  k̂

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Vector Addition

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Vector Addition

• Consider two vectors A and B

• We want to add them together to find the vector sum,
or resultant vector, R, such that

R  AB BA

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Parallelogram Law of Addition

• If the two vectors A and B are represented by the
adjacent sides of a parallelogram, then the diagonal
of the parallelogram is equal to the vector sum of the
two vectors

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Triangle Rule
• Vectors sum can also be obtained
by adding the two vectors head to
tail in any order

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Special Case
• As a special case, if the two vectors A and B are
collinear, that is both vectors have the same line of
action, then parallelogram law reduces to an
algebraic or scalar addition

R  A B

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Using Trigonometry
• We can also use trigonometry to add two vectors
together using the sine and cosine laws
• Consider a triangle with sides of length A, B, and C,
and corresponding interior angles a, b, and c

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Cosine Law

C  A2  B 2  2 AB cos c

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Sine Law

A B C
 
sin a sin b sin c

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Three or More Vectors

• Where we have three or more vectors we can either
use repeated applications of the parallelogram law or
a vector polygon to find the resultant vector

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Vector Decomposition
• A vector can be resolved into two components in
general coordinates u and v using the parallelogram
law

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Example Problem (2-1, Textbook)

Determine the magnitude of
the resultant force 𝐹 = 𝐹 + 𝐹
and its orientation 𝜃, measured
counterclockwise from the
positive x-axis.

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Remember: you
need a laptop or
Reminder tablet for the web
tutorial
• Tutorials will start on the week of
Monday (September 21st) –
starting with odd number sections

• MasteringEngineering
Assignment #1 – Part (A) Make sure you
check the schedule
on our course OWL
site to see dates
for your tutorial
section

Lecture 3: Vectors (part 1)

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Lecture Recap
• Read Chapter 2 in Hibbeler

• Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and

2.5
• Work through examples in
the text
• Examples 2.1 through
2.7

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