PHYS130 Chapter 3: Chapter3_Vectors

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Physics
• Course: PHYS130
• Professor: John Davis

Document Summary

There are two types of quantities in the physical sciences: vectors and scalars. A scalar is simply a number, or magnitude with a unit (e. g. , 3. 0 c, 500 km, 5 km/h). These can be used like any other number for ordinary algebraic operations. Some examples of scalar data are: temperature, age, height, speed. A vector is a scalar with a direction. Vectors follow special rules called vector operations for combining or algebraic operations. The direction can be intuitive, such as representing the displacement from point a to point b (sometimes called a displacement vector). Other examples are velocity (speed with a direction), acceleration, magnetic fields. Vectors are conventionally drawn using arrows, with the tail of the arrow at the starting point connected to the head of the arrow at the end point. The arrow represents the net, or summary, of the change in position that creates the vector.