Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Summer II – 2009
e.g. Tensors are used to describe a stress component (magnitude and two directions)
Vector algebra
A A = Aeˆ A
eˆ A =
A
unit vector
• Thus, any vector may be represented as a product of its magnitude and a unit vector
along the vector
• A unit vector is used to designate direction and it does not have any physical
dimensions
• We denote a unit vector by a ‘hat’ (caret) above the bold letter
• A vector of zero magnitude is called zero or null vector
Vector addition
• Let A, B and C be any vectors
• A+B is the sum of A and B
• If we want to subtract vectors; A-B = A+(-B) and subtraction reduces to the operation
of addition
Multiplication of vector by scalar
• Let A and B vectors and α and β be scalars (real numbers)
• To every vector A and every number α corresponds a unique vector α A
• α(βA)=(αβ)A (associative)
• (α+β)A= αA+βA (distributive scalar addition)
• α(A+B) =αA+αB (distributive vector addition)
• 1•A=A •1 = A and 0 •A=0
• Two vectors are equal if their magnitudes are equal and if their directions are equal
Linear independence of vectors
• We can algebraically state the concepts of collinear and coplanar vectors
• If the above expression is not satisfied the vectors are linearly independent
• If two vectors are linearly dependent then they are collinear (same line)
• If three vectors are linearly dependent they are coplanar (same plane)
• Four (or more) vectors in 3D space are always linearly dependent
• When a force F acts on a mass point and moves though a displacement vector d, the
work done by the force vector is defined by the projection of the force in the direction of
displacement times the magnitude of the displacement
F • d ≡ (F, d) = Fd cos θ ,0 ≤ θ ≤ π
F •d
Vector product
We have; l =r sinθ
M = Fr sin θeˆ M = r × F
magnitude Vector product
(A+B)xC = (AxC)+(BxC)
Distributive law still exists but the order of the factors must be maintained
Example: Velocity of a point of a rotating body