Tag: Vectors
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Exploring the Metric System and Vectors through Paper Airplanes
Objective In this hands-on lab, you’ll familiarize yourself with the metric system and the concept of vectors. You’ll design and launch paper airplanes, measure their flight distances and times, and assess the direction and magnitude of each flight. Materials You’ll Need Procedure Follow these steps to complete the lab: Step 1: Understanding the Metric System…
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Cross Product
Introduction The cross product (also known as the vector product) is an operation on two vectors in three-dimensional space. It results in a vector that is orthogonal (perpendicular) to both of the original vectors, with a magnitude equal to the area of the parallelogram that the vectors span. Basics of the Cross Product Given two…
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Vector Analysis
Introduction Vector analysis is a branch of mathematics that deals with quantities that have both magnitude and direction. Unlike scalars, which only have magnitude, vectors are essential in representing physical quantities such as force, velocity, and acceleration. Vector Basics A vector is often represented as an arrow with its length proportional to the magnitude and…
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Chapter 7: Forces
7.1 Introduction to Forces: Push and Pull Forces are an essential concept in physics. A force can cause an object to move, stop, speed up, slow down, or change direction. They do this via a “push” or “pull” action. Forces are typically measured in Newtons There are different methods of categorizing forces. One way is…
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Chapter 3: Vector Components
3.1 Introduction It is often necessary to break a vector into its components. In the cartesian coordinate system, this would mean breaking the vector into an x-component and a y-component. Figure 1 below demonstrates that there are generally two ways to do this as represented by the two different right triangles. It is important to…