Concept preview

What you will be able to do

1. 01Distinguish scalars from vectors with examples
2. 02Add vectors graphically (tip-to-tail) and by components
3. 03Resolve a vector into components and find a resultant's magnitude and direction

Imagine I tell you: 'walk 500 metres and you'll reach the shop.' You'd stop and ask me — 500 metres which way? That little question is the whole idea of this lesson. Some measurements are complete with just a number, and some are useless until you also say a direction. Physics gives these two families of quantities different names, and once you can tell them apart, a huge amount of mechanics suddenly makes sense.