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TheUnitTangentandtheUnitNormalVectors

TheUnitTangentVector
Thederivativeofavectorvaluedfunctiongivesanewvectorvaluedfunctionthatistangenttothedefinedcurve.
Theanaloguetotheslopeofthetangentlineisthedirectionofthetangentline.Sinceavectorcontainsa
magnitudeandadirection,thevelocityvectorcontainsmoreinformationthanweneed.Wecanstripavectorof
itsmagnitudebydividingbyitsmagnitude.

DefinitionoftheUnitTangentVector
Letr(t)beadifferentiablevectorvaluedfunctionandv(t)=r'(t)bethevelocityvector.Thenwe

definetheunittangentvectorbyastheunitvectorinthedirectionofthevelocityvector.
v(t)

T(t)=
||v(t)||

Example
Let
r(t)=ti+etj3t2k
FindtheT(t)andT(0).

Solution
Wehave
v(t)=r'(t)=i+etj6tk
and

Tofindtheunittangentvector,wejustdivide

TofindT(0)plugin0toget

ThePrincipalUnitNormalVector
Anormalvectorisaperpendicularvector.Givenavectorvinthespace,thereareinfinitelymany
perpendicularvectors.Ourgoalistoselectaspecialvectorthatisnormaltotheunittangentvector.
Geometrically,foranonstraightcurve,thisvectoristheuniquevectorthatpointintothecurve.Algebraically
wecancomputethevectorusingthefollowingdefinition.

DefinitionofthePrincipalUnitNormalVector
Letr(t)beadifferentiablevectorvaluedfunctionandletT(t)betheunittangentvector.Thenthe
principalunitnormalvectorN(t)isdefinedby
T'(t)

N(t)=
||T'(t)||

Comparingthiswiththeformulafortheunittangentvector,ifwethinkoftheunittangentvectorasavector
valuedfunction,thentheprincipalunitnormalvectoristheunittangentvectoroftheunittangentvector
function.Youwillfindthatfindingtheprincipalunitnormalvectorisalmostalwayscumbersome.Thequotient
ruleusuallyrearsitsuglyhead.

Example
Findtheunitnormalvectorforthevectorvaluedfunction
r(t)=ti+t2j
andsketchthecurve,theunittangentandunitnormalvectorswhent=1.

Solution
Firstwefindtheunittangentvector

NowusethequotientruletofindT'(t)


Sincetheunitvectorinthedirectionofagivenvectorwillbethesameaftermultiplyingthevectorbyapositive
scalar,wecansimplifybymultiplyingbythefactor

Thefirstfactorgetsridofthedenominatorandthesecondfactorgetsridofthefractionalpower.Wehave

Nowwedividebythemagnitude(afterfirstdividingby2)toget

Nowplugin1forboththeunittangentvectortoget

Thepicturebelowshowsthegraphandthetwovectors.

TangentialandNormalComponentsofAcceleration
ImagineyourselfdrivingdownfromEchoSummittowardsMyersandhavingyourbrakesfail.Asyouare
ridingyouwillexperiencetwoforces(otherthantheforceofterror)thatwillchangethevelocity.Theforceof
gravitywillcausethecartoincreaseinspeed.Asecondchangeinvelocitywillbecausedbythecargoing
aroundthecurve.Thefirstcomponentofaccelerationiscalledthetangentialcomponentofaccelerationandthe
secondiscalledthenormalcomponentofacceleration.Asyoumayguessthetangentialcomponentof
accelerationisinthedirectionoftheunittangentvectorandthenormalcomponentofaccelerationisinthe
directionoftheprincipalunitnormalvector.OncewehaveTandN,itisstraightforwardtofindthetwo
components.Wehave

TangentialandNormalComponentsofAcceleration

TangentialandNormalComponentsofAcceleration
Thetangentialcomponentofaccelerationis

andthenormalcomponentofaccelerationis

and
a=aNN+aTT

Proof
Firstnoticethat
v=||v||TandT'=||T'||N
Takingthederivativeofbothsidesgives
a=v'=||v||'T+||v||T'=||v||'T+||v||||T'||N
Thistellsusthattheaccelerationvectorisintheplanethatcontainstheunittangentvectorandtheunitnormal
vector.Thefirstequalityfollowsimmediatelyfromthedefinitionofthecomponentofavectorinthedirection
ofanothervector.Thesecondequalitieswillbeleftasexercises.

Example
Findthetangentialandnormalcomponentsofaccelerationforthepriorexample
r(t)=ti+t2j

Solution
Takingtwoderivatives,wehave
a(t)=r''(t)=2j
Wedottheaccelerationvectorwiththeunittangentandnormalvectorstoget

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