VECTORS AND SCALARS

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Created by
Aimee Russell

Cards (17)

  • Displacement

    Distance in a certain direction
  • Vector quantity

    Physical quantity that has both a size and a direction
  • Scalar quantity

    Physical quantity that has size, but no specific direction
  • Magnitude

    The size of a quantity
  • A vector has magnitude (size) as well as a direction
  • A scalar has magnitude only
  • The displacement from home to school is 5 km due East
  • The magnitude of the displacement is 5 km, and the direction is East
  • Vector quantity

    • Has a magnitude and a direction
  • Scalar quantity

    • Has magnitude only
  • Any vector quantity can be represented by an arrow
  • The direction of the arrow shows the direction of the vector quantity
  • The length of the arrow represents the magnitude of the vector quantity
  • Force is a vector quantity and can be represented on a diagram by an arrow
  • If the magnitude of the force is known, this can also be represented by the length of the arrow
  • When more than one force acts on an object, the forces on the object sometimes need to be shown on a scale diagram
  • On a scale diagram, 1 unit of distance (e.g. 10mm) can represent a force of 10N