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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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