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Period:310215
PhysicsChapter3Notes
Section 3.1: Using Vectors
Two vectors are considered equal if they have the same magnitude and direction.
The net displacement describes the net result of the first displacement, and then
the second displacement.
When finding the sum of two vectors, place the tail of the vector being added, to the
tip of the first vector. The draw a vector starting from the tail of the first vector
to the tip of the second vector. This gives you the resultant or V1 + V2.
Method 2: Place both vectors at a corner where the tails begin and find the length
of the diagonal formed by the parallelogram that the two vectors make.
When multiplying a vector by a positive scalar quantity, the result is another vector
with a different magnitude but pointing in the same direction.
By multiplying a vector by -1, the direction gets reversed and the length is same.
To subtract V2 from V1 , change the direction of V2 to its opposite and place the tail
of that vector onto the tip of vector V1 and draw an arrow from the tail of V1 to
the tip of - V2 (the opposite). This will give you V1 -V2.
The velocity vector is the displacement vector multiplied by the scalar 1/t.
Since velocity is a vector, it can change in a total of two possible ways. 1. The
magnitude can change, indicating a change in speed. 2. The direction of motion can
change.
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To find the acceleration vector between Vi and Vf , draw the Vf first. Then draw
the -Vi at the tip of the Vf. Find the resultant. Take the resultant and place it onto
the original vector for Vi and Vf. This is the average acceleration at the midpoint
between Vi and Vf.
Once a vector has been plotted and the x and y axes have been fixed, two new
vectors can be defined parallel to the axes. These are called the x-component and
the y-component vectors and they are always perpendicular to each other.
When the original vector has been broken down into its two components, it is said
to have been decomposed or resolved.
To determine the components of a vector, take the absolute value of the xcomponent. This represents the magnitude of the component vector. The sign of
the vector is positive if the x-component of the vector points in the positive xdirection and negative if the x-component of the vector points in the negative xdirection. The y-component is determined the same way.
When solving a problem where you are given the hypotenuse and vertical height of
an inclined plane, first perform the appropriate trigonometric function to give you
the angle of . Using the angle of , you can then plug it into the equation
ax=(g)*(sin ) to give you the acceleration of an object sliding along the inclined
plane. Once you know this piece of information, you can easily plug it into one of the
three kinematics equations to find the variable you are solving for.
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Relative velocity is velocity that is described from a point of view relative to the
motion of the object. There can be multiple descriptions of the velocity of one
person and they will all still be valid.
All real objects are influenced by air resistance, but the effect of it is really small
for dense objects moving at moderate speeds. For this reason, it will be ignored in
this chapter.
Any projectile will always follow the same type of path, which is a trajectory in the
form of a parabola, as long as air resistance is ignored.
The shape of the trajectory, a parabola, is the same for all objects because the
free-fall acceleration is also the same for all objects.
As a projectile is moving, the horizontal component of the velocity will not change.
Rather, the vertical component will have changes.
The initial velocity vector can also be expressed in terms of x- can y-components.
The x- can y-components of the initial velocity vector will not always be positive.
If a projectile is thrown below the horizontal (x-axis), then there will be negative
values for and the y-component of the initial velocity vector. However, the xcomponent of the initial velocity vector will still be the same and the speed of the
initial velocity will always be a positive value.
An object will finish its motion moving downward at the same speed it started
moving upward in.
There are four equations of motion for the parabolic trajectory of a projectile.
1. xf = xi + (vx)i t
2. yf = yi +(vy)i t -
g(t)2
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4. (vy)f = (vy)i g t
The initial vertical velocity has no impact over the horizontal motion of an object
and the initial horizontal velocity has no effect over the vertical motion either.
There are four kinematics equations used for projectile motion, two for the
vertical component and two for the horizontal component.
Horizontal: 1. xf = xi +(vx)i t
Vertical: 1. yf = yi + (vy)i t -
2. (vy)f = (vy)i gt
t is the same for both the vertical and horizontal components of the motion.
If the launch angle is very small or very large, the range will be quite small.
If a ball is thrown with a launch angle of 75, it will go up-and-down quite a bit, but
it will not travel far horizontally. Similarly, if a ball gets thrown with a launch angle
of 15, the ball will not get enough airtime and thus will not be able to travel far.
Both of these cases have the same range, or horizontal distance traveled.
A launch angle of 45 will give you the maximum range when the object is landing at
the same elevation it was launched in.
The optimal launch angle for projectiles such as baseballs and golf balls is less than
45 because of the effects of air resistance.
The period of motion is the time interval it takes an object to go around a circle
one time, completing one revolution. A period is represented by the symbol T.
Circular motion is specified by its frequency, the number of revolutions per second.
The symbol f is used to represent this.
Revolutions are not units. The SI unit of frequency is inverse seconds, or s-1.
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The frequency may also be measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). These other
units usually need to be calculated into s-1 before working with them.
The equation relating the period, the radius and the speed can be written as:
v=
To relate the frequency to the speed, we can write the equation: v=2fR where v
represents the speed, R is the radius, and f is the frequency.
The velocity vector point in the direction of motion of the object and shows its
speed.
The velocity vector will always be tangent to the circle and perpendicular to the
acceleration vector at all points.
An acceleration that always points directly to the center of the circle is called a
centripetal acceleration.
The relationship between displacement, velocity and the radius can be shown by the
equation:
Displacement is the speed times the interval of time and can be represented by the
equation: d = vt. This value can be substituted for d in the previous equation
leaving you with:
. The equation