Scalar and vector quantities - AQAVector quantities
Scientists often make measurements. The physical quantities they measure fall into two categories: scalars and vectors. Scalar and vector quantities are treated differently in calculations.
Vector quantities have both magnitudeThe size of a physical quantity. and an associated direction. This makes them different from scalar quantities, which just have magnitude.
Examples of vector quantities
Some examples of vector quantities include:
force, eg 20 newtons (N) to the left
displacement, eg 50 kilometres (km) east
velocity, eg 11 metres per second (m/s) upwards
acceleration, eg 9.8 metres per second squared (m/s虏) downwards
momentum, eg 250 kilogram metres per second (kg m/s) south west
The direction of a vector can be given in a written description, or drawn as an arrow. The length of an arrow represents the magnitude of the quantity. The diagrams show three examples of vectors, drawn to different scales.