A vector has both magnitude and direction. Does it mean that anything that has magnitude and direction is necessarily a vector? The rotation of a body can be specified by the direction of the axis of rotation, and the angle of rotation about the axis. Does that make any rotation a vector?
Does it mean that anything that has magnitude and direction is necessarily a vector? No
The rotation of a body can be specified by the direction of the axis of rotation, and the angle of rotation about the axis. Does that make any rotation a vector? No
A physical quantity having both magnitude and direction need not be considered a vector. For example, despite having magnitude and direction, current is a scalar quantity. The essential requirement for a physical quantity to be considered a vector is that it should follow the law of vector addition.
Generally speaking, the rotation of a body about an axis is not a vector quantity as it does not follow the law of vector addition. However, a rotation by a certain small angle follows the law of vector addition and is therefore considered a vector.
Rain is falling vertically with a speed of 30 m s–1. A woman rides a bicycle with a speed of 10 m s–1 in the north to south direction. What is the direction in which she should hold her umbrella?
On an open ground, a motorist follows a track that turns to his left by an angle of 60° after every 500 m. Starting from a given turn, specify the displacement of the motorist at the third, sixth and eighth turn. Compare the magnitude of the displacement with the total path length covered by the motorist in each case.
Establish the following vector inequalities geometrically or otherwise:
(a) |a + b| ≤ |a| + |b|
(b) |a + b| ≥ ||a| − |b||
(c) |a − b| ≤ |a| + |b|
(d) |a − b| ≥ ||a| − |b||
When does the equality sign above apply?
A stone tied to the end of a string 80 cm long is whirled in a horizontal circle with a constant speed. If the stone makes 14 revolutions in 25 s, what is the magnitude and direction of acceleration of the stone?
Given a + b + c + d = 0, which of the following statements are correct:
(a) a, b, c, and d must each be a null vector,
(b) The magnitude of (a + c) equals the magnitude of (b+ d),
(c) The magnitude of a can never be greater than the sum of the magnitudes of b, c, and d,
(d) b + c must lie in the plane of a and d if a and d are not collinear, and in the line of a and d, if they are collinear?
An aircraft executes a horizontal loop of radius 1.00 km with a steady speed of 900 km/h. Compare its centripetal acceleration with the acceleration due to gravity.
Three girls skating on a circular ice ground of radius 200 m start from a point P on the edge of the ground and reach a point Q diametrically opposite to P following different paths as shown in Fig. 4.20. What is the magnitude of the displacement vector for each? For which girl is this equal to the actual length of the path skated?
Some of the most profound statements on the nature of science have come from Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of all time. What do you think did Einstein mean when he said : “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible”?
The sign of work done by a force on a body is important to understand. State carefully if the following quantities are positive or negative:
(a) work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.
(b) work done by gravitational force in the above case,
(c) work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane,
(d) work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform velocity,
(e) work done by the resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.
A geyser heats water flowing at the rate of 3.0 litres per minute from 27 °C to 77 °C. If the geyser operates on a gas burner, what is the rate of consumption of the fuel if its heat of combustion is 4.0 x 104 J/g?
Estimate the fraction of molecular volume to the actual volume occupied by oxygen gas at STP. Take the diameter of an oxygen molecule to be 3Å.
The unit of length convenient on the atomic scale is known as an angstrom and is denoted by Å : 1Å = 10-10 m. The size of a hydrogen atom is about 0.5 Å what is the total atomic volume in m3 of a mole of hydrogen atoms?
One mole of an ideal gas at standard temperature and pressure occupies 22.4 L (molar volume). What is the ratio of molar volume to the atomic volume of a mole of hydrogen? (Take the size of hydrogen molecule to be about 1Å). Why is this ratio so large?
An air bubble of volume 1.0 cm3 rises from the bottom of a lake 40 m deep at a temperature of 12 °C. To what volume does it grow when it reaches the surface, which is at a temperature of 35 °C?
A particle is in linear simple harmonic motion between two points, A and B, 10 cm apart. Take the direction from A to B as the positive direction and give the signs of velocity, acceleration and force on the particle when it is
(a) at the end A,
(b) at the end B,
(c) at the mid-point of AB going towards A,
(d) at 2 cm away from B going towards A,
(e) at 3 cm away from A going towards B, and
(f) at 4 cm away from B going towards A.
The farthest objects in our Universe discovered by modern astronomers are so distant that light emitted by them takes billions of years to reach the Earth. These objects (known as quasars) have many puzzling features, which have not yet been satisfactorily explained. What is the distance in km of a quasar from which light takes 3.0 billion years to reach us?
A LASER is a source of very intense, monochromatic, and unidirectional beam of light. These properties of a laser light can be exploited to measure long distances. The distance of the Moon from the Earth has been already determined very precisely using a laser as a source of light. A laser light beamed at the Moon takes 2.56 s to return after reflection at the Moon's surface. How much is the radius of the lunar orbit around the Earth?
The sign of work done by a force on a body is important to understand. State carefully if the following quantities are positive or negative:
(a) work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.
(b) work done by gravitational force in the above case,
(c) work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane,
(d) work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform velocity,
(e) work done by the resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.
The unit of length convenient on the nuclear scale is a fermi : 1 f = 10 - 15 m. Nuclear sizes obey roughly the following empirical relation : r = r0 A1/3
where r is the radius of the nucleus, A its mass number, and r0 is a constant equal to about, 1.2 f. Show that the rule implies that nuclear mass density is nearly constant for different nuclei. Estimate the mass density of sodium nucleus. Compare it with the average mass density of a sodium atom obtained in Exercise. 2.27.
The mass of a box measured by a grocer's balance is 2.300 kg. Two gold pieces of masses 20.15 g and 20.17 g are added to the box. What is
(a) the total mass of the box,
(b) the difference in the masses of the pieces to correct significant figures?