PHYSICS 101 - LECTURE 6 The Velocity Vector The Orthogonality of Components of Motion In the previous lecture I introduced Galileo's

concept of the independence of the horizontal and the vertical motion of a flying cannon ball. Here I will try to show that the independence of orthogonal, i.e. perpendicular, motions is a very general thing. Consider the motion of this little mechanical pig on a transparent projection slide. I release it to walk in a vertical direction. However, while it is walking vertically on the sheet, I move the sheet sideways. The result is a diagonal motion of the pig.
y
N OF PI G

where it seems that the relationship between the velocities can be written as VPG = VPS + VSG With this sort of diagram in mind, return to the motion of the tossed soft-ball. This is shown again below.
y

6m

MOTION OF PIG ON SHEET

OT

IO

8m

MOTION OF SHEET

Consider now the components of the velocity at various points along the trajectory.
VELOCITY COMPONENTS

This motion was the result of a velocity that was made up of two independent components; the velocity of the pig on the sheet and the velocity of the sheet. Taking the pig to be symbolized by P, the sheet by S and the projector, which we will consider to be the ground, by G allows us to represent the velocity of the pig (relative to ground) by VPG, the velocity of the pig relative to the sheet by VPS and the velocity of the sheet (relative to ground by VSG .This results in the diagram shown below.
VPS

V PG

VSG

VPG = V PS + VSG

In this picture the horizontal velocity is always the same but the vertical velocity starts by pointing upward, after which it gradually diminishes until it is zero at the top of the flight and then turns over and points down, growing as the ball falls. Of course, this change in the vertical velocity component is brought about by the acceleration. A diagram of this acceleration at the various points is shown in the diagram on the next page.

Physics 101A - Physics for the life sciences

ACCELERATION VECTORS

2
VELOCITY VECTORS

Here the vectors at each point are identical. This is just another way of saying that the motion is of uniform acceleration. Of course, it is this downward acceleration that is causing the uniform downward progression of the velocity. This is how the velocity is derived from the acceleration. How is the displacement derived from the velocity? This can be seen by looking at the combination of the vertical and horizontal velocities at each of the chosen points. These result in velocities as shown in the diagram below.

DISPLACEMENT VECTORS

As some of you may know if you have studied physics before, we are dealing here with Vectors. I will leave the acceleration vector for now (we will return to it in the next lecture) and concentrate on the connection between the displacement vectors and the velocity vectors. To see the connection between displacement and velocity vectors, consider the displacement vectors for points 8 and 9.

The derivation of the displacement of the ball from the velocity becomes a little clearer when the component arrows are removed as in the diagram on the upper right. This shows that the velocity arrows just trace out the trajectory of the ball. But what about the arrows depicting the actual displacement of the ball at the chosen points? These are shown in the second diagram on the right. Here it can be seen that the velocity arrows cause the progression of the arrow-heads for the displacement as it progresses from pointing to the first chosen point to pointing to the last.

8
S 89
S 08

9
S 09

S09 = S08 + S89

Lecture 6 - The Velocity Vector (Here I have added little arrows over the symbols for the vectors to show more clearly that they are meant to designate vectors. Although this is not an internationally sanctioned practice it is also done by Hecht and I think is useful for a course such as this one.) From this diagram it should be clear that the r vector S09 can be thought of as the result of r r adding the vector step S89 to the vector S08 . In algebraic form this operation is r r r S09 = S08 + S89 Rearranging this equation gives r r r S89 = S09 S08 r This implies that the vector S89 can be thought of as the change in the displacement vector in going from point 8 to point 9. Using as the internationally sanctioned symbol to indicate a change means that r r S89 = S Now recall that Bradwardine's definition of velocity was s v= t or, in words, that the velocity of an object is the change in displacement of that object divided by the time interval in which that change ocurred. Similarly, then, for the velocity vector. r r s v= t or, in words, the velocity vector of an object is the change in the displacement vector of that object divided by the time interval in which that change ocurred. But can we throw around vectors like they were simply terms in an algebraic equation? What does algebraic addition of vectors really mean? To see this consider the addition of two simple displacement vectors. By addition here we mean that one vector just follows the other tail to head.
y

SAC
B

SAC

SAB
A

Now consider the x and y components of these three vectors:

y
C

S AC
B

AC

SBC

SAC SAB SBC SAC

x

S AB
A

SAB

From the diagram it is seen that SACx = SAB x + SBCx and that SACy = SAB y + SBCy Thus the algebraic equation r r r S = S1 + S2 implies that S x = S1 + S2 x x S y = S1 + S2 y y Vectors therefore simply add by adding their orthogonal components independently. You may have been introduced to vectors by the statement "vectors have magnitude and direction". It turns out, however, that a more meaningful statement about vectors is that their orthogonal components add (and subtract)

Physics 101A - Physics for the life sciences independently. This is of extreme importance in understanding the behaviour of vectors. So, if velocity, like displacement, is a vector then its components must add independently as well. To illustrate what this means, consider some examples. (The worked solution of these are on the attached pages.) The Abstract Nature of the Vector Concept Displacement, velocity and acceleration are easily visualized forms of vectors. However, there are many other forms of vectors that are not so easy to visualize, some of which we will come across later in this course. One step that is perhaps easy to make is to go to threedimensional forms of displacement, velocity and acceleration. All we have to do there is add another independent component, usually designated by z, for the third dimension. Although it is impossible to picture in three dimensions, Einsteins Relativity is based on a four-dimensional space-time vector. Again the fourth dimension is another independent component, in this case related to time. If you want to know how deep it can get, modern quantum mechanics works with vectors of infinite dimensions. In case you think that higher-order multidimensional vectors are of only concern to physicists, many concepts in psychology are expressed in such "spaces". One is the human perception of colour, which is a three dimensional vector as shown in a picture at the end of these notes. (Download it in colour and have a look.) Reference material in text Section 2.5 to 2.9 inclusive (particularly worked example problems). Example problem 1 You are rowing a boat across a river, aiming directly for the other side. You are rowing at 3 km per hour but the river is flowing at 4 km per hour. If the river is 200 m wide, how far down-river will you land on the other side?

Example problem 2 An airplane is pointing straight east and flying with an airspeed of 300 km/hr. there is a southerly wind of 80 km per hour. What is the actual direction of the flight of the plane and what is its ground speed?

Example problem 3 You are pedaling your bike at 20 km per hour along a road running to the east. There is a northerly wind of 15 km per hour. From which direction does the wind appear to be coming toward your face?

Lecture 6 - The Velocity Vector Example problem 5 An airplane is heading in the direction 20 degrees North of East. Its airspeed is 400 km per hour. There is a 120 km per hour wind from the direction 30 degrees south of East. What is the ground-speed and the direction of the flight of the plane?

Example problem 4 Two girls are standing 15 m from each other at opposite ends of a railway flat-car moving at 10 m/s. They are throwing a ball back and forth to each other, each time throwing the ball so that it reaches a maximum height of 4 meters above their hands. From your point of view, watching this as the flat-car goes by, what is the direction of the velocity of the ball as is leaves the hand of the girl throwing it back against the direction of the motion of the flat-car?