How do you find the components of a vector?

Sometimes it is more useful for us to represent a vector in terms of other vectors added together. For example, we can split a vector into the vectors pointing in the direction of our axes, we call these seperate vectors our components. These components when added together will equal our original vector. To find our components, we use trigonometry. If we know the angle between our vector and the horizontal (or x) axis, we can use the cosine function to calculate the horizontal component. Similarly, our vertical component is found using the sine function.

AS

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Steel has a density of 8030kg/m^3. Show that a steel ball with a diameter of 5cm weighs approximately 5N


Two cars start at point A. Car 1 moves in a direction at 5 m/s. After 10 seconds car 2 accelerates in the same direction as car 1 at 2m/s^2. At what time after car 1 starts moving and distance from A does car 2 pass car 1?


A pendulum of mass m is released from height h with a speed v at the bottom of its swing. a) What is the gravitational potential energy at height h and the kinetic energy at the bottom of its swing? b) Use conservation of energy to define the speed v.


Give an example of 3 different types of radiation stating their make up, penetration and ionising effect.