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1.3 Vector and scalar quantities
Marat lives on the right Vectors and scalars
bank of Astana. He All physical quantities can be divided into vector quantities and scalar
goes to school on the quantities. This distinction helps scientists to understand the properties
left bank. He used to and characteristics of these physical quantities.
textbooks nis edu kz
get to school in 1 hour. For example, when an object moves, we determine the direction of the
Then a new bridge was movement: you travel by bus from Kokshetau to Astana, for instance.
built, and now it takes The distance between the two cities is 271 km. If a physical quantity has
him just 20 minutes both a numerical value and direction, then it is a vector quantity.
to get to school. How If physical quantity has only a numerical value, it is a scalar quantity.
did the construction of For example, temperature, measured by a thermometer.
the bridge impact on
Marat’s travel time?
Calculating with scalars
For scalar quantities, all the main algebraic operations that you
have learnt in Maths can be applied. They are: addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. Scalar quantities are always associated with
quantities that do not have a direction. This makes calculating them
much easier.
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