2.

Force Vectors

CHAPTER 02

FORCE VECTORS

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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

 To show how to add forces and resolve them into components

using the Parallelogram Law.
 To express force and position in Cartesian vector form and explain
how to determine the vector’s magnitude and direction.
 To introduce the dot product in order to use it to find the angle
between two vectors or the projection of one vector onto another.

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2.1 SCALARS AND VECTORS

Scalar
• any positive or negative physical quantity that can be completely
specified by its magnitude.

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2.1 SCALARS AND VECTORS

Vector
• any physical quantity that requires both a magnitude and direction
for its complete description.

In print, vector quantities are represented by boldface letters such

as A, and the magnitude of a vector is italicized, A. For handwritten
→
work, it is often denoted by simply drawing an arrow above it, A.

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2.2 VECTOR OPERATIONS

Multiplication and Division of a Vector by a Scalar

• If a vector is multiplied by a positive scalar, its magnitude is

increased by that amount.
• Multiplying by a negative scalar will also change the directional
sense of the vector.

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2.2 VECTOR OPERATIONS

Vector Addition

• It is important to account for both magnitudes and directions.

• Parallelogram Law of Addition is used.

R=A+B

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2.2 VECTOR OPERATIONS

Vector Addition

• Triangle rule or “head-to-tail” method can also be used.

R=A+B

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2.2 VECTOR OPERATIONS

Vector Addition

• If the two vectors A and B are collinear, the parallelogram law

reduces to an algebraic or scalar addition.

R=A+B

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2.2 VECTOR OPERATIONS

Vector Subtraction

• The resultant of the difference between two vectors A and B of the

same type may be expressed as

R’ = A – B = A + (-B)

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2.3 VECTOR ADDITION OF FORCES

Finding a Resultant Force

• The two components forces F1 and F2 acting on the pin can be

added together to form the resultant FR = F1 + F2.
• From this, apply the law of sines and law of cosines to the triangle
in order to obtain the magnitude of the resultant and its direction.

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2.3 VECTOR ADDITION OF FORCES

Finding the Components of a Force

• Sometimes it is necessary to resolve a force into two components

in order to study its pulling or pushing effect in two specific
directions.

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2.3 VECTOR ADDITION OF FORCES

Addition of Several Forces

• If more than two forces are to be added, successive applications of

the parallelogram law can be carried out in order to obtain the
resultant force.

* Note: Addition of vectors have two important properties: commutative and

associative.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.1

The screw eye in the figure is subjected to two forces F1 and F2.
Determine the magnitude and direction of the resultant force.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.2

Resolve the horizontal 600-lb force into components acting along the u
and v axes and determine the magnitudes of these components.

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

When a force is resolved into two components along the x and y axes,
the components are then called rectangular components. For
analytical work we can represent these components in one of two
ways, using either scalar or Cartesian vector notation.

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Scalar Notation

• The rectangular components of a force F shown are found using

the parallelogram law, so that F = Fx + Fy.

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Cartesian Vector Notation

• It is also possible to represent the x and y components of a force in

terms of Cartesian unit vectors i and j.

F = Fx i + Fy j

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Coplanar Force Resultants

• Coplanar Forces – forces that lie in the same plane.

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Coplanar Force Resultants

• Coplanar Forces – forces that lie in the same plane.

F1 = F1x i + F1y j
F2 = ‒F2x i + F2y j
F3 = F3x i ‒ F3y j

FR = F1 + F2 + F3

FR = F1x i + F1y j ‒ F2x i + F2y j + F3x i ‒ F3y j

= (F1x ‒ F2x+ F3x)i + (F1y + F2y ‒ F3y )j
FR = (FRx)i + (FRy)j

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Coplanar Force Resultants

• Coplanar Forces – forces that lie in the same plane.

+ → (FR)x = F1x ‒ F2x + F3x

+↑ (FR)y = F1y + F2y ‒ F3y

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2.4 ADDITION OF A SYSTEM OF COPLANAR FORCES

Coplanar Force Resultants

• Coplanar Forces – forces that lie in the same plane.

(FR)x = SFx
(FR)y = SFy

FR = (FR)x2 + (FR)y2

(FR)y
q = tan-1
(FR)x

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.3

Determine the x and y components of F1 and F2 acting on the boom
shown. Express each force as a Cartesian vector.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.4

The link in the figure is subjected to two forces F1 and F2. Determine
the magnitude and direction of the resultant.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.5

The end of the boom O is subjected to three concurrent and coplanar
forces. Determine the magnitude and direction of the resultant force.

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Right-Handed Coordinate System

• A rectangular coordinate system is said to be right-handed if the

thumb of the right hand points in the direction of the positive z axis
when the right-hand fingers are curled about this axis and directed
from positive x towards the positive y axis.

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Rectangular Components of a Vector

• A vector A may have one, two, or

three rectangular components along
the x, y, z coordinate axes, depending
on how the vector is oriented relative
to the axes.

A = Ax + Ay + Az

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Cartesian Unit Vectors

• In three dimensions, the set of Cartesian unit vectors, i, j, k, is

used to designate the directions of the x, y, z axes, respectively.

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Cartesian Vector Representation

• Since the three components of A act

in the positive i, j, and k directions,
we can write A in Cartesian vector
form as

A = Ax i + Ay j + Az k

• Separating magnitude and direction of

each component vector will simplify
the operations of vector algebra.

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Magnitude of Cartesian Vector

• The magnitude of A is equal to the

positive square root of the sum of the
squares of its components.

A= Ax2 + Ay2 + Az2

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Coordinate Direction Angles

• The coordinate direction angles a, b,

and g, measured between the tail of A
and the positive x, y, z axes provided
they are located at the tail of A.

Ax Ay Az
cos a = cos b = cos g =
A A A

These numbers are knows as the

direction cosines of A.

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Coordinate Direction Angles

• An easy way of obtaining these

direction cosines is to form a unit
vector uA in the direction of A.

A Ax Ay Az
uA = = i + j + k
A A A A

An important relation among the

direction cosines can be formulated as

cos2a + cos2b + cos2g = 1

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2.5 CARTESIAN VECTORS

Transverse and Azimuth Angles

• Sometimes, the direction of A can be

specified using two angles, namely, a
transverse angle q and azimuth
angle f.

A = A sin f cos q i + A sin f sin q j

+ A cos f k

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2.6 ADDITION OF CARTESIAN VECTORS

The addition (or subtraction) of two ore more vectors is greatly
simplified if the vectors are expressed in terms of their Cartesian
components.

R = A + B = (Ax + Bx)i + (Ay + By)j + (Az + Bz)k

If this is generalized and applied to a system of several concurrent

forces, the resultant is the vector sum of all the forces in the system
and can be written as

FR = SF = SFxi + SFyj + SFzk

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.6

Express the force F shown as a Cartesian vector.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.7

Two forces act on the hook shown. Specify the magnitude of F2 and its
coordinate direction angles so that the resultant force FR acts along
the positive y axis and has a magnitude of 800 N.

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2.7 POSITION VECTORS

x, y, z Coordinates

• A right-handed coordinate system will be used to reference the

location of points in space.

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2.7 POSITION VECTORS

Position Vector

• A position vector r is defined as a fixed vector which locates a

point in space relative to another point.

r = xi + yj + zk

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2.7 POSITION VECTORS

Position Vector

• In the more general case, the position vector may be directed from
point A to point B in space.

r = (xB – xA)i + (yB – yA)j + (zB – zA)k

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.8

An elastic rubber band is attached to points A and B. Determine its
length and its direction measured from A toward B.

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2.8 FORCE VECTOR DIRECTED ALONG A LINE

Quite often in three-dimensional statics problems, the direction of a
force is specified by two points through which its line of action passes.

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2.8 FORCE VECTOR DIRECTED ALONG A LINE

We can formulate F as a Cartesian vector by realizing that it has the
same direction and sense as the position vector r directed from point
A to point B on the cord. This common direction is specified by the
unit vector u = r/r.

r (xB – xA)i + (yB – yA)j + (zB – zA)k

F = Fu = F ( r )= F[ (xB – xA)2 + (yB – yA)2 + (zB – zA)2
]

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.9

The man shown pulls on the cord with a force of 70 lb. Represent this
force acting on the support A as a Cartesian vector and determine its
direction.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.10

The force acts on the hook. Express it as a Cartesian vector.

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

The dot product, which defines a particular method for “multiplying”
two vectors, can be used to solve the angle between two lines or the
components of a force parallel and perpendicular to a line, particularly
in three dimensions.
The dot product of vectors A and B, written A ∙ B and read “A dot B,”
is defined as the product of the magnitudes of A and B and the cosine
of the angle q between their tails. Expressed in equation form,

A ∙ B = AB cos q

where 0° ≤ q ≤ 180°. The dot product is often referred to as the

scalar product of vectors since the result is a scalar and not a vector.

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Laws of Operation

1. Commutative law: A ∙ B = B ∙ A
2. Multiplication by a scalar: a(A ∙ B) = (aA) ∙ B = A ∙ (aB)
3. Distributive law: A ∙ (B + D) = (A ∙ B) + (A ∙ D)

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Cartesian Vector Formulation

• The dot product of two general vectors A and B expressed in

Cartesian vector form is

A ∙ B = AxBx + AyBy + AzBz

• Thus, to determine the dot product of two Cartesian vectors,

multiply their corresponding x, y, z components and sum these
products algebraically. Note that the result will be either a positive
or negative scalar, or it could be zero.

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Applications

• The angle formed between two vectors or intersecting lines.

A∙B
q= cos-1 ( AB
) 0° ≤ q ≤ 180°

If A ∙ B is equal to zero, it implies what?

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Applications

• The components of a vector parallel and perpendicular to a line.

a a

The component of vector A parallel to or collinear with the line a-a

is defined as Aa = A cos q. This component is sometimes referred
to as the projection of A onto the line.

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Applications

• The components of a vector parallel and perpendicular to a line.

If the direction of the line is specified by the unit vector ua, then
since ua = 1, we can determine the magnitude of Aa directly from
the dot product
Aa = A cos q = A ∙ ua

Hence, the scalar projection of A along a line is determined from

the dot product of A and the unit vector ua which defines the
direction of the line. Notice that if this result is positive, then Aa has
a directional sense which is the same as ua, whereas if Aa is a
negative scalar, then Aa has the opposite sense of direction to ua.

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2.9 DOT PRODUCT

Applications

• The components of a vector parallel and perpendicular to a line.

The component Aa represented as a vector is therefore

Aa = Aa ∙ ua

The component of A that is perpendicular to line a-a can also be

obtained by Pythagorean’s theorem.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.11

Determine the magnitudes of the projection of the force F onto the u
and v axes.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.12

The frame shown is subjected to a horizontal force F = {300j} N.
Determine the magnitudes of the components of this force parallel and
perpendicular to member AB.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM | 2.12

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