91Ó°ÊÓ

Unit vectors are fundamental in understanding vector mathematics because they represent vectors with a magnitude of exactly 1. These vectors are often used as a basis to describe other vectors in the same direction. When dealing with problems involving unit vectors, it’s crucial to remember that their primary characteristic is their magnitude. For unit vectors \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \), we have:

• \( |\vec{a}| = 1 \)
• \( |\vec{b}| = 1 \)

Knowing that \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \) are unit vectors simplifies processes like vector addition and scalar multiplication significantly.

Vector addition is a simple yet powerful tool in vector mathematics. It involves adding corresponding components of vectors to get a new vector. In the given exercise, we are told that the sum of unit vectors \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \) has a magnitude of \( \sqrt{3} \).To find the magnitude of \( \vec{a} + \vec{b} \), we use:\[ |\vec{a} + \vec{b}|^2 = (\vec{a} + \vec{b}) \cdot (\vec{a} + \vec{b}) \]This expands to:\[ \vec{a} \cdot \vec{a} + 2 \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} + \vec{b} \cdot \vec{b} = 3 \]Plugging in the unit vector properties \( \vec{a} \cdot \vec{a} = 1 \) and \( \vec{b} \cdot \vec{b} = 1 \), it simplifies to \( 2 + 2 \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} = 3 \), leading to \( \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} = \frac{1}{2} \).

The cross product of two vectors is a vector that is perpendicular to both of the original vectors. It not only gives the direction of the new vector but also the magnitude, which is equal to the area of the parallelogram spanned by the original vectors. In this exercise, the cross product \( \vec{a} \times \vec{b} \) yields a vector perpendicular to both \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \). We've introduced \( \vec{n} \), a unit vector resulting from this cross product.The magnitude \( |\vec{a} \times \vec{b}| \) is given by:\[ |\vec{a} \times \vec{b}| = |\vec{a}||\vec{b}|\sin\theta \]where \( \theta \) is the angle between \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \). In our case, \( \sin\theta \) can be directly determined from the context given.

The scalar product, or dot product, is a crucial concept in vector mathematics that results in a scalar rather than a vector. It provides a way to calculate the angle between vectors and their projection onto each other. In the problem, we have:\[ \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} = \frac{1}{2} \]This tells us that the angle between \( \vec{a} \) and \( \vec{b} \) satisfies:\[ |\vec{a}||\vec{b}|\cos\theta = \frac{1}{2} \]With \( |\vec{a}| = |\vec{b}| = 1 \), it simplifies to \( \cos\theta = \frac{1}{2} \). Therefore, \( \theta = 60^{\circ} \). Understanding the scalar product helps in identifying angles or projections between vectors effectively.