VECTORS

PROBLEMS :
1. The horizontal and vertical components of a force are 8 N and 15 N respectively. Find the force.
2. The three sides of a triangle representing the three forces acting on a body at rest are
respectively 

3, 4, 5 cm. If the largest force is 50 N calculate the least force.
3. A body of weight 6 kg is suspended by two ropes AB and CB which make angles 30° and 60°
with the vertical. Find the tension in AB. (the points A and C are at the same horizontal level)
4. Two forces 120 N and 90 N are acting on a body perpendicular to each other. What is the
magnitude of the resultant force acting on the body ?
5. If 6 coplanar forces of equal magnitude keep a body in equilibrium, find the angle between any
two adjacent forces.
6. If nine forces each equal to 5 N act on a particle and each force makes an angle 36° with the next
one, what is the resultant of all the forces ?
7. Five equal forces of 10 N each are applied at one point and all are lying in one plane. If
the angles between them are equal, find the resultant of these forces.
8. At what angle should two forces of magnitudes 2 N and ! 2 N act so that the resultant force will
be ! 10 N.
9. Forces of 5, 12 and 13 N acting at point are in equilibrium. Find the angle between the first and
the second force.
10. Two equal forces have a resultant equal to either of the force. At what angle they are inclined to
each other ?
11. The greatest and the least resultant of two forces of given magnitudes acting at a point are 12 N
and 4 N. Find their resultant when they are acting at an angle 120° with one another.
12. Two forces 4 N and F act at 120° with each other. If their resultant is at right angles to 4 N, find
the value of F.
13. Two forces whose magnitudes are in the ratio 3:5 give a resultant 35 N when they are inclined at
60° to each other. Find the magnitude of each force.

14. Two forces acting at an angle of 60° have a resultant equal to 5! 3 kgwt. If one of the forces is 5
kgwt, find the other force.
15. Two equal forces act on a particle. Find the angle between them when the square of their
resultant is equal to three times their product.

16. The square of resultant of two equal forces is (2+! 3 ) times their product. Find the angle
between them.
! ! ! ! 2 2
17. The resultant of two vectors ! P + Q and ! P − Q is ! 3P + Q . Find the angle between them.
! ! ! ! ! !
18. If ! a and ! b are two unit vectors such that ! a + 2b and ! 5a − 4b are perpendicular to each other,
! !
a
then find the angle between ! and ! . b
19. If three forces of magnitudes 5 N, 12 N and 13 N acting simultaneously on a particle keep it in
equilibrium, find the angle between the force 5 N and 13 N. Given sin23° = 5/13.
20. The resultant of two forces at right angle is 5 N. When the angle between them is 120° the

resultant is ! 13 , then find the magnitudes of two forces.

21. The resultant of two forces has a magnitude of 


20 dyne one of the force is 20! 3 dyne and makes 30° with the resultant. Find the other force in
dynes.
22. One of the two rectangular components of a force is 25 N and it makes an angle of 60° with the
force. Find the magnitude of the other component.
F1 F2
23. Two vectors ! and ! each of magnitude F are inclined to each other such that their resultant is

equal to ! 3F . Then calculate the resultant of ! F1 and ! − F2 .

24. The square to the resultant of two forces 4 N and 

3 N exceeds the square of the resultant of the two forces by 12 when they are mutually
perpendicular. Find the angle between the vectors.
25. A gun mounted on the top of a moving truck is aimed in the backward direction at an angle of 30°
to the horizontal at 4 ms–1. What should be the speed of the truck so that the bullet come out
vertically ?
26. Three forces P, 2P, 3P acting along the three sides of an equilateral triangle in the same order.
Then find their resultant.
27. A person moves through a distance of 20 m due east, then moves through a distance of 20 m
due north, then turns west and covers a distance of 10 m and then turns south and covers a
distance of 10 m. Find the displacement.
28. Two billiard balls are rolling on a flat surface one has the velocity components vx=1 ms–1 and vy=
1 −1 1 −1
3 ms–1 and the other has components v x = 2 ms and v y = 2 ms . If both the balls start
moving from the same point, find the angle between their paths.

29. A(1, 1) and B(–! 3 , 1) are two points in space w.r.t. origin of imaginary coordinate system. Find
the angle between the position vectors of A and B.
30. Forces of equal to 2, 3, 4, 5 and F newton act at a point north, south, east, west and north east.
Then find the magnitude of F if point is in equilibrium.
KEY :

1) 17 N 2) 30 N 3) 3 3 4) 150 N

5) 60° 6) 5 N 7) zero 8) 45°

9) 90° 10) 120° 11) 4 3 N 12) 8 N

13) 15 N, 25 N 14) 5 kgwt 15) 60° 16) 30°

17) 90° 18) π/3 19) 113° 20) 3 N and 4 N

21) 20 22) 25 3 N 23) F 24) 60°

27) 10 2 m north- 28) 15°

25) 2 3 ms−1 26) 3 P
east

29) 105° 30) 2