Vector Basics
A quantity that has both magnitude and direction.
What is a vector?
The graphical method where vectors are placed head to tail.
What is the head-to-tail method?
The direction directly to the right on a standard vector diagram.
What is 0° or East?
The horizontal part of a vector.
What is the x-component?
A boat crossing a river with a current is an example of this physics concept.
What is vector addition?
A quantity that has magnitude but no direction.
What is a scalar?
The vector that represents the total effect of two or more vectors.
What is the resultant vector?
The direction directly upward on a standard coordinate plane.
What is 90° or North?
The vertical part of a vector.
What is the y-component?
When wind affects an airplane’s path, pilots must calculate this vector.
What is the resultant vector?
The length of a vector represents this.
What is magnitude?
When two vectors act in the same direction, their magnitudes are ______.
What is added?
The direction directly left on a standard vector diagram.
What is 180° or West?
The trigonometric function used to find the adjacent component of a vector.
What is cosine?
A person walks 4 m east then 3 m north. The straight-line displacement represents this.
What is the resultant displacement?
The arrow tip of a vector represents this property.
What is direction?
When two vectors act in opposite directions, their magnitudes are ______.
What is subtracted?
The direction directly downward.
What is 270° or South?
The trigonometric function used to find the opposite component of a vector.
What is sine?
The direction and magnitude of a moving object is known as this vector.
What is velocity?
Two vectors with the same magnitude and direction but different positions are called this.
What are equal vectors?
The vector drawn from the starting point to the ending point in tip-to-tail addition.
What is the resultant?
The angle measured from east rotating counterclockwise is called this system.
What is the polar coordinate system?
The formula used to find resultant magnitude from components.
What is Pythagoras' Theorem?
GPS navigation systems constantly calculate this when combining direction and distance.
What is the resultant displacement vector?