Monday, November 1, 2010

ADDING VECTORS

Vector Addition

A variety of mathematical operations can be performed with and upon vectors. One such operation is the addition of vectors. Two vectors can be added together to determine the result (or resultant). This process of adding two or more vectors has already been discussed in an earlier unit. Recall in our discussion of Newton's laws of motion, that the net force experienced by an object was determined by computing the vector sum of all the individual forces acting upon that object. That is the net force was the result (or resultant) of adding up all the force vectors. During that unit, the rules for summing vectors (such as force vectors) were kept relatively simple. Observe the following summations of two force vectors:



Then use Pythagorean Theory to measure the resultant of the vectors.

EXAMPLE:


To get the Angle of the Resultant:





http://faraday.physics.utoronto.ca/PVB/Harrison/Flash/Vectors/Add3Vectors.html

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