Vectors in three dimensions

The concept of a vector in three dimensions is not materially different from that of a vector in two dimensions. It is still a quantity with magnitude and direction, except now there is one more dimension. As you might expect, specifying such a vector is a little trickier than in the two-dimensional case, but not much. Returning to our tale of two cities, suppose city B is on a mountain while A is in a valley. That is, we must take into account a third dimension, height. Let's ask again what information is required to allow someone to go from A to B. If all we know is the distance r, then all we can say is that B is located somewhere on a sphere of radius d centered at A: r A r counter-clockwise from due east as before, and the angle measured downwards from the vertical axis: B north r A The coordinates (r,,) are called spherical coordinates. Alternatively, we could specify the components in the easterly, northerly, and vertical directions. These are the rectangular coordinates x, y and z:

east

In this case, one way of specifying the location of B would be to give two angles in addition to the distance d. We can give the angle measured

B north r x z

z y r sin y east x A vector can be written in component form P v = x v x + yv y + v z . z Dot product As in two dimensions, the dot product of two vectors is defined by P P v A w = v w cos , P P where is the angle between the vectors. If the second vector is w = x w x + y w y + zw z , P then the dot product again turns out to be the sum of the products of the components: P P v A w = v x wx + v y wy + v zwz Cross (or vector) product In three dimensions, there is another kind of product of two vectors, called the cross or vector product. In contrast to the dot product, it is a .

Using the fact that the length of the projection of the displacement vector onto the horizontal plane is r sin as shown, we find that the three components of the displacement vector are x = r sin cos y = r sin sin z = r cos . In the resources for this section, you will find a movie which illustrates how the components of a vector change as its direction changes. Unit vectors In rectangular coordinates, there are now three unit vectors x , y and z :

vector, not a scalar (number). In symbols, the cross product is defined by P P P P v H w = n v w sin , where the unit vector n is perpendicular to the P P plane containing v and w , and points in the direction determined by the Right-hand rule: P 1) start with v (the first vector in the cross product). Curl the fingers of your right hand P around towards w . Which direction do you go around? Go in the direction in which the angle P P between v and w is smallest. 2) stick out your thumb like a hitch-hiker. It points in the direction of n : n w P P v wrap fingers in this direction Then

P P v H w = x v y w z v z w y + y v z w x v x w z + z v x wy v y wx . Notice the cyclic permutation of the labels (x,y,z) in the first members of each term. Thats how you remember the formula for the cross product. Lets check to see that the above formula agrees with the definition of the cross product. Well P choose our coordinates so that v points in the xP direction and w lies in the x-y plane: z y w P wy P v P v = xv x , w = xw x + yw y and n = z . P Beginning with the definition of the cross product, we find

It turns out that there is a (relatively) easy way to calculate the cross product of two vectors, as long as you know their rectangular components. It is

P P P P v H w = n v w sin = n v w sin P P = zv x w y , which is the same as what we get when we plug into the expression for the cross product in component form. Exercise Prove this frequently-used identity (the triple product): P b P a H (P H c) = (a A c)P (a A P)c . P Pb P bP Unit vectors in spherical coordinates There are three unit vectors, r , and , as shown in the following figure: r y x

These unit vectors are not fixed, as their direction depends on where they are. It is often useful to express them in terms of the fixed unit vectors of rectangular coordinates. These relations are r = x sin cos + y sin sin + z cos = x cos cos + y cos sin z sin = x sin + y cos . Velocity and acceleration in spherical coordinates (Note: some equations in this section contain primes, which denote time derivative. If you cant see them, magnify the equations using Readers magnification tool.) This section is a bit heavy going. You will definitely want to skip it on first reading. Using the above relations, it is easy to show that the time derivatives of the unit vectors are dr = N + N sin dt d = r N + N cos dt d = r N sin N cos . dt The position vector is

00 11 0 1 0000 1111 000 111 000 111 000 111

r

P = rr, r so the velocity is dP r dr = r + r rN dt dt or after substitution P v = r r N + r N + r N sin The acceleration is (after some algebra) P a = r (r O r N 2 r N 2 sin 2 )
1 d (r 2 N ) r N 2 sin cos + r dt

d 2 1 (r N sin 2 ) r sin dt

Note that our earlier results for the velocity and acceleration in two dimensions are special cases of these ones. To recover them, all you have to do is set = / 2 and then replace by (because thats what we called the azimuthal angle in two dimensions).