Engineering Mechanics :

STATICS
BDA10203
Lecture #07

Group of Lecturers
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
2
 DOT PRODUCT (Section 2.9)
Todays Objective:
Students will be able to use the dot product to
a) determine an angle between two vectors,
and,
b) determine the projection of a vector along a
specified line.

Learning Topics:
Applications / Relevance
Dot product - Definition
Angle determination
Determining the projection

3
 APPLICATIONS

For this geometry, can you determine angles between the

pole and the cables? 4
 DEFINITION

The dot product of vectors A and B is defined as AB = A B cos .

Angle is the smallest angle between the two vectors and is
always in a range of 0 to 180.

Dot Product Characteristics:

1. The result of the dot product is a scalar (a positive or
negative number).
2. The units of the dot product will be the product of the units
of the A and B vectors.
5
 DEFINITION

The dot product of vectors A and B is defined as AB = A B cos .

WHY cos ???

To multiply two vectors it makes sense to multiply their lengths

together but only when they point in the same direction

6
 DOT PRODUCT DEFINITON (continued)

Examples: ij = 0
ii = 1

AB = (Ax i + Ay j + Az k) (Bx i + By j + Bz k)
= Ax Bx + AyBy + AzBz

Thus, to determine the dot product of two Cartesian vectors, multiply

their corresponding x,y,z components and sum their products
algebraically \

7
 DOT PRODUCT DEFINITON (continued)

Cartesian Vector Formulation

- Dot product of 2 vectors A and B
AB = (Axi + Ayj + Azk) (Bxi + Byj + Bzk)
= AxBx(ii) + AxBy(ij) + AxBz(ik)
+ AyBx(ji) + AyBy(jj) + AyBz(jk)
+ AzBx(ki) + AzBy(kj) + AzBz(kk)
= AxBx + AyBy + AzBz

Note: since result is a scalar, be careful of including any

unit vectors in the result
 USING THE DOT PRODUCT TO DETERMINE THE
ANGLE BETWEEN TWO VECTORS

For the given two vectors in the Cartesian form, one can find the
angle by
a) Finding the dot product, A B = (AxBx + AyBy + AzBz ),
b) Finding the magnitudes (A & B) of the vectors A & B, and
c) Using the definition of dot product and solving for , i.e.,
= cos-1 [(A B)/(A B)], where 0 180 .
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DETERMINING THE PROJECTION OF A VECTOR

You can determine the components of a vector parallel and

perpendicular to a line using the dot product.
Steps:
1. Find the unit vector, Uaa along line aa
2. Find the scalar projection of A along line aa by
A|| = A U = AxUx + AyUy + Az Uz
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 DETERMINING THE PROJECTION OF A VECTOR
(continued)

3. If needed, the projection can be written as a vector, A|| , by

using the unit vector Uaa and the magnitude found in step 2.
A|| = A|| Uaa

4. The scalar and vector forms of the perpendicular component

can easily be obtained by
A = (A 2 - A|| 2) and
A = A A||
(rearranging the vector sum of A = A + A|| )

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EXAMPLE
Given: The force acting on
the pole
Find: The angle between
the force vector and
the pole, and the
magnitude of the
projection of the
force along the pole
OA.
Plan:
1. Get rOA
2. = cos-1{(F rOA)/(F rOA)}
3. FOA = F uOA or F cos
12
 EXAMPLE (continued)
Note
AB = A B cos .
(F rOA)= (|F |)( |rOA |)cos

1. rOA = {2 i + 2 j 1 k} m
|rOA |= (22 + 22 + 12)1/2 = 3 m
2. F = {2 i + 4 j + 10 k}kN
|F | = (22 + 42 + 102)1/2 = 10.95 kN
O=(0,0,0) F rOA = (2)(2) + (4)(2) + (10)(-1) = 2 kNm
A= (2,2,-1)

= cos-1{(F rOA)/(F rOA)}

= cos-1 {2/(10.95 * 3)} = 86.5
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 EXAMPLE (continued)

3. Magnitude means F || , using equation F || = F cos =F uOA

FOA = F cos = 10.95 cos(86.51) = 0.667 kN

or
uOA = rOA/rOA = {(2/3) i + (2/3) j (1/3) k}
FOA = F uOA = (2)(2/3) + (4)(2/3) + (10)(-1/3) = 0.667 kN
IN CLASS TUTORIAL 1 (GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING)

Given: The force acting on the pipe

Find: The magnitude of the
projected component of 100
N force acting along the
axis BC of the pipe.

Plan:

1. Get rCD and rCB

2. Get UCD and UCB

3. FBC = (F UCD )UCB

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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING 1 (continued)

Determine coordinate of point B, C ,D

B=(0,0,0)
C=(0.6,0.4,-0.2)
D=(0,1.2,0)

rCD = {( XD XC ) i + ( YD YC ) j + ( ZD ZC ) k }m
= {( 0 0.6 ) i + ( 1.2 0.4) j + ( 0 (-0.2) ) k }m
= {-0.6i + 0.8j + 0.2k }m
rCB = {( XB XC ) i + ( YB YC ) j + ( ZB ZC ) k }m
= {( 0 0.6 ) i + ( 0 0.4) j + ( 0 (-0.2) ) k }m
= {-0.6i - 0.4j + 0.2k }m
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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

1
rCD (0.6) 2 (0.8) 2 (0.2) 2 2
1.02m

1
rCB (0.6) 2 (0.4) 2 (0.2) 2 2
0.75m

uCD = rCD/|rCD| ={(-0.6/1.02) i + (0.8/1.02) j + (0.2/1.02) k}

={- 0.59 i + 0.78 j + 0.196 k}
uCB = rCB/|rCB| ={(-0.6/0.75) i + (-0.4/0.75) j + (0.2/0.75) k}
={- 0.8 i - 0.53 j + 0.27 k}

F= F uCD = 100{- 0.59 i + 0.78 j + 0.196 k}= {-59 i +78 j +19.6 k}

FCB = (F uCB) = (-59)(-0.8) + (78)(-0.53) + (19.6)(0.27)
= 11.15N
17
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IN CLASS TUTORIAL 2 (GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING)

Find: The angle between pipe

segment BA and BC

Plan:

1. Get rBA and rBC

2. = cos-1{(rBC rBA)/(rBC * rBA)}

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 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

rBC = {( XC XB ) i + ( YC YB ) j + ( ZC ZB ) k }m
= {( 0.6 0 ) i + ( 0.4 0) j + ( -0.2 0 ) k }m
= {0.6i + 0.4j - 0.2k }m
rBA = {( XA XB ) i + ( YA YB ) j + ( ZA ZB ) k }m
= {( -0.3 0 ) i + ( 0 0) j + ( 0 0 ) k }m
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= {-0.3i + 0j + 0k }m
 GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING (continued)

1
rBC (0.6) 2 (0.4) 2 (0.2) 2 2
0.75m

1
rBA (0.3) 2 (0) 2 (0) 2 2
0.3m

= cos-1{(rBC rBA)/(rBC rBA)}

= cos-1 {-0.18/(0.75 * 0.3)} = 143.1

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 READING QUIZ

1. The dot product of two vectors P and Q is P

defined as

A) P Q cos B) P Q sin
Q
C) P Q tan D) P Q sec

2. The dot product of two vectors results in a _________

quantity.
A) scalar B) vector
C) complex D) zero

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 ATTENTION QUIZ

1. The Dot product can be used to find all of the following

except ____ .
A) sum of two vectors
B) angle between two vectors
C) component of a vector parallel to another line
D) component of a vector perpendicular to another line

2. Find the dot product of the two vectors P and Q.

P = {5 i + 2 j + 3 k} m
Q = {-2 i + 5 j + 4 k} m
A) -12 m B) 12 m C) 12 m 2
D) -12 m 2 E) 10 m 2
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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL
Q1 (2-113):
Determine the angle between the two cables.
Given:
a = 8m
b = 10m
c = 8m
d = 10m
e = 4m
f = 6m
FAB := 12kN

: = 82.9

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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL (continued)

Q2 (2-108) :
Cable BC exerts a force of F = 28N on the top of the flagpole.
Determine the projection of this force along the z axis of the pole

Ans : = 24
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 HOMEWORK TUTORIAL (continued)

Q3 (2-111) :
Determine the angle and between the wire segment

Ans: = 74
= 33.9
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