Learning Module for

Senior High School

Subject: General Physics 1
 MODULE 2
Vectors

Let’s Take A Look

Some physical quantities, such as time, temperature, mass, and density,

can be described completely by a single number with a unit. But many other
important quantities in Physics have a direction associated with them and
cannot be described by a single number alone. A simple example is describing
the motion of a tricycle. We must say not only how fast the tricycle is moving
but also in what direction. The speed of the tricycle combined with its direction
of motion together constitutes a quantity called velocity. Another example is
force, which in Physics means a push or pull exerted on a body. Giving a
complete description of a force means describing both how hard the force
pushes or pulls on the body and the direction of the push or pull.
When you walk, you are not only describing how fast you walk but also
in what direction. All physical quantities we know can be categorized in two as
scalar quantity and vector quantity. In this module, we will discuss these
quantities and we will be able to know how to add these quantities.
 Let’s Work It Out

In this module, you will learn differentiate vector quantity from scalar
quantity and perform the addition of vectors. The following are the lessons and
the learning competencies for you to fulfill.

Lesson – Vectors

Learning Competency:

1. Differentiate vector and scalar quantities (STEM_GP12V-Ia-8);

2. Perform addition of vectors (STEM_GP12V-Ia-9); and
3. Rewrite a vector in component form (STEM_GP12V-Ia-10).

Specific Objectives:
1. Describe vector and scalar quantities;
2. Solve problems involving vector quantities; and
3. Use vectors in component form.

Let’s Think First

Directions: Chose the correct answer from the given choices. Write your
answer on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Which of the following is a physical quantity that has magnitude but

no direction?
A. scalar C. vector
B. displacement D. velocity
2. Identify the following as scalar or vector: mass of a fish, the number of
fish, and the flow of the river.
A. all vectors C. scalar, scalar, vector
B. all scalars D. vector, vector, scalar
3. Which of the following is an example of a vector quantity?
A. temperature C. velocity
B. volume D. mass
4. What can you say of two vectors having the same magnitude and
direction?
A. adjacent C. not equal
B. equal D. opposite
5. Which refers to a physical quantity that has both magnitude and
direction?
A. scalar C. vector
B. time D. mass
6. Which is simply the change in position of an object, regardless the
path taken?
A. distance C. dissect
B. distilled D. displacement
7. When two vectors have the same direction, they are .
A. parallel C. not equal
B. perpendicular D. opposite
8. How can you distinguish a vector quantity from a scalar quantity as
written in books?
A. Printed vectors commonly written as variable V.
B. Printed vectors cannot be determined as vectors.
C. Printed vectors commonly written as vector then variable.
D. Printed vector symbols are in boldface italic type with an arrow
above.
9. What can you say in this statement: Addition of vectors is absolutely
the same with calculations of counting numbers using the operations
of ordinary arithmetic?
A. Absolutely yes, because they are both numbers.
B. Maybe, because they also have numbers.
C. No, it requires a different set of operations.
D. It cannot be added because of its direction.
10. How about this statement: Addition of vectors having the same
direction is absolutely the same with calculations of counting
numbers using the operations of ordinary arithmetic?
A. Absolutely, yes because they are of the same direction.
B. Maybe, because they also have numbers.
C. No, it requires a different set of operations.
D. It cannot be added because of its direction.
 Let Me Catch You

Activity 1

Group According to Its Kind

Directions: Study the feature of each quantity inside the box and group them
into two categories: scalar and vector quantities. Write your
answers on a sheet of paper.

distancespeed accelerationforce displacementvelocity weightmomentum

temperaturepower
time mass area
density energy

Scalar Quantity Vector Quantity

Guide Questions:

1. Provide at least two examples of distance.

2. Provide at least two examples of displacement.
3. What common feature does a scalar and vector quantities have? Hint. It
can be measured.
4. Distinguish the distinct feature of scalar quantity from vector quantity.

5. Cite a concrete example where vectors can be used.

 Let’s Have a Tour

Activity 2

Looking Through Vectors

Directions: Study well the line segment below; you can use a ruler to measure
the length of each segment. Then answer the following guide
question.

Guide Questions:

1. What do you call of segments A, B, and A’ knowing that they both have
magnitude and direction?
2. Describe the similarities of these three (3) vectors.

3. Describe the difference of these three (3) vectors.

4. What do you call if the two vectors have the same direction?

5. What can you say of a vectors having the same magnitude and direction?
 Let’s Talk And Tell

Vector Quantity vs. Scalar Quantity

Any physical quantities can be categorized as scalar quantity and vector

quantity.

 Scalar quantity has a magnitude only. It also refers to any physical

quantity that can be described by a single number. Calculations
involving scalar quantities use the operation of ordinary arithmetic. For
example, 1kg + 4kg = 5kg or 4 x 6min = 24 min.
Examples: mass, distance, speed, temperature

Figure 1
 Vector quantity has both magnitude and
direction. To understand more about vectors
and how they combine, we start with the
simplest vector quantity, displacement.
Displacement is simply a change in the position
of an object. It is a vector quantity because we
must state not only how far the object moves
but also in what direction. Walking 3 km North
from your front door doesn’t get you to the
same place as walking 3 km Southeast; these
two displacements have the same magnitude
but different directions.
Examples: weight, displacement, velocity,
force
To represent vector quantity such as displacement,
see Figure 1.9. We always print vector symbols in
boldface, italic type with an arrow above them.
But in this module, we can use italic and boldface
for convenience. The arrow above the vector reminds
us that it has different properties from scalar
quantities, and this reminds us the direction.
Parallel vectors- if two vectors are of the same direction.
Equal vectors –if two vectors have the same magnitude and direction no
matter where they are located in space.

Figure 2

Addition of Vectors

There are two methods that we can use to add vectors: graphical method
(tip to tail and parallelogram method) and adding vectors by components. The
vector sum is what we call the resultant vector or simply the resultant.

How to Do Graphical method

1. On a diagram, draw one of the vectors—call it —to scale.

2. Next is draw the second vector, to scale, placing its tail at the tip of the
first vector and be sure its direction is correct.
3. The arrow drawn from the tail of the first vector to the tip of the second
vector represents the sum, or resultant, of the two vectors.

The length of the resultant vector represents its magnitude. Note that
vectors can be moved parallel to themselves on paper (maintaining the same
length and angle) to accomplish these manipulations. The length of the
resultant can be measured with a ruler and compared to the scale. Angles can
be measured with a protractor. This method is known as the tail-to-tip
method of adding vectors.
 Example. (From Giancoli, 2014)

Figure 3

Parallelogram method
A second way to add two vectors is the parallelogram method. It is fully
equivalent to the tail-to-tip method. In this method, the two vectors are drawn
starting from a common origin, and a parallelogram is constructed using these
two vectors as adjacent sides as shown in Fig. 4b. The resultant is the diagonal
drawn from the common origin. In Fig. 4a, the tail-to-tip method is shown, and
we can see that both methods yield the same result.

Figure 4

It is a common error to draw the sum vector as the diagonal running

between the tips of the two vectors, as in Fig. 4c. This is incorrect: it does not
represent the sum of the two vectors.

Components of Vectors

Adding vectors graphically using a ruler and protractor is often not

sufficiently accurate and is not useful for vectors in three dimensions. We
discuss now a more powerful and precise method for adding vectors. But do
not forget graphical methods—they are useful for visualizing, for checking your
math, and thus for getting the correct result.

Components

Consider first a vector V that lies in a particular plane. It can be

expressed as the sum of two other vectors, called the components of the
original vector. The components are usually chosen to be along two
perpendicular directions, such as the x and y axes. The process of finding the
components is known as resolving the vector into its components. An
example is shown in Fig. 5; the vector V could be a displacement vector that
points at an angle Ѳ = 300 north of east, where we have chosen the positive x
axis to be to the east and the positive y axis north. This vector V is resolved
into its x and y components by drawing dashed lines (AB and AC) out from the
tip (A) of the vector, making them perpendicular to the x and y axes. Then the
lines 0B and 0C represent the x and y components of V, respectively, as shown
in Fig.5b. These vector components are written Vx and Vy. In this book we
usually show vector components as arrows, like vectors, but dashed. The
scalar components, Vx and Vy, are the magnitudes of the vector components,
with units, accompanied by a positive or negative sign depending on whether
they point along the positive or negative x or y axis. As seen in Fig.5, Vx + Vy =
V by the parallelogram method of adding vectors. Space is made up of three
dimensions, and sometimes it is necessary to resolve a vector into components
along three mutually perpendicular directions. In rectangular coordinates the
components are Vx , Vy, and Vx.

Figure 5

To add vectors using the method of components, we need to use the

trigonometric functions sine, cosine, and tangent, which we now review. Given
any angle Ѳ, as in Fig. 6a, a right triangle can be constructed by drawing a line
perpendicular to one of its sides, as in Fig. 6b. The longest side of a right
triangle, opposite the right angle, is called the hypotenuse, which we label h.
The side opposite the angle is labeled o, and the side adjacent is labeled a. We
let h, o, and a represent the lengths of these sides, respectively.
 Figure 6

We now define the three trigonometric functions, sine, cosine, and

tangent (abbreviated sin, cos, tan), in terms of the right triangle, as follows
(sohcahtoa):

Figure 7

NOTE TO REMEMBER: Coordinate system: Along +X axis (East), -X axis

(West), +Y axis (North), -Y axis (South)

Based in figure 7, and using the sohcahtoa, we can write V x and Vy as,
Vx = V cos Ѳ
Vy = V sin Ѳ to get the components of vector V.

Then we can simply add all vectors along x- axis (resultant along x (Rx) or
Vx) and all vectors along y-axis (resultant along x (R y) or Vy). Then you will have
values of Vx and Vy. Use the theorem of Pythagoras and definition of tangent as
shown below.
 Let’s Do It

Activity 3

Finding Components of a Vector

Directions: Using the knowledge you gain in section Let’s Talk and Tell, find
the components of each vector. After getting the components,
using the graphical method, graph the vectors (Vx and Vy) and find
the resultant vector using tip to tail or parallelogram and compare
your answer in the given vector.

1. Find Vx and Vy.

2. Find Vx and Vy when V2= 300m, Ѳ = 900.

3. Find Vx and Vy when V2= 200m, Ѳ = 450.
4. Find the resultant Vector by adding vectors in number 1, 2, and 3 (V 1,
V2, V3) using components of a vector.
5. Find the resultant Vector by adding vectors in number 1, 2, and 3 (V 1,
V2, V3) using graphical method.
 Let’s Check And Learn

Directions: Chose the correct answer from the given choices. Write your
answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Which of the following is a physical quantity that has magnitude but no
direction?
A. scalar C. vector
B. displacement D. velocity
2. Identify the following as scalar or vector: mass of a fish, the number of
fish, and the flow of the river.
A. all vectors C. scalar, scalar, vector
B. all scalars D. vector, vector, scalar
3. Which of the following is an example of a vector quantity?
A. temperature C. velocity
B. volume D. mass
4. What can you say of two vectors having the same magnitude and
direction?
A. adjacent C. not equal
B. equal D. opposite
5. Which refers to a physical quantity that has both magnitude and
direction?
A. scalar C. vector
B. time D. mass
6. Which is simply the change in position of an object, regardless the path
taken?
A. distance C. dissect
B. distilled D. displacement
7. When two vectors have the same direction, they are .
A. parallel C. not equal
B. perpendicular D. opposite
8. How can you distinguish a vector quantity from a scalar quantity as
written in books?
A. Printed vectors commonly written as variable V.
B. Printed vectors cannot be determined as vectors.
C. Printed vectors commonly written as vector then variable.
D. Printed vector symbols are in boldface italic type with an arrow
above.
9. What can you say in this statement: Addition of vectors is absolutely the
same with calculations of counting numbers using the operations of
ordinary arithmetic?
A. Absolutely yes, because they are both numbers.
B. Maybe, because they also have numbers.
C. No, it requires a different set of operations.
D. It cannot be added because of its direction.
10. How about this statement: Addition of vectors having the same
direction is absolutely the same with calculations of counting numbers
using the operations of ordinary arithmetic?
A. Absolutely, yes because they are of the same direction.
B. Maybe, because they also have numbers.
C. No, it requires a different set of operations.
D. It cannot be added because of its direction.
 Answer Key

Let’s think first

1. A 2. C 3. C 4. B 5. C 6. D 7.A 8. D 9. C 10. A

Activity 1
Scalar: distance, speed, time, mass, temperature, power, area, density,
energy Vector: displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, weight,
momentum
1. we are required to have 1m social distancing,5km
2. 5 km south, 3m North
3. They have both magnitude
4. vector has direction
5. In building roads and highways, bridges,

Activity 2
1. They are vector quantities.
2. They all have same magnitude, and vector A and A’ have the same
direction.
3. Only vector B differs in direction from vectors A and A’.
4. They are parallel.
5. They are equal.

Activity 3
1. Vx= 500 cos 30 = , Vy = 500 sin 30=
2. Vx= 300 cos 90 = , Vy = 300 sin 90=
3. Vx= 200 cos 45 = , Vy = 200 sin 40=
4. Add Vx = Vx1+Vx2 +Vx3 = , Vy = Vy1 + Vy2+ Vy3=
Then, V = sqrt (Vx2 + Vy2), tan Ѳ = Vy/Vx
So, V = , Ѳ = .

5. In your tip to tail segment you should measure using ruler drawn to scale
as V = unit, Ѳ = .
Let’s check and learn
1. A 2. C 3. C 4. B 5. C 6. D 7.A 8. D 9. C 10. A

References

Giancoli, Douglas C. Physics:Principles with applications. 7th ed.

Pearson Education, Inc, 2014. Ebook.

Young, Hugh and Freedman, Roger. University Physics with modern physics.
13th ed. University of California, Santa Barbara: Jim Smith,
2012. Ebook.

Prepared by:

GRETHYL C. JAMERO