What is a vector?
A quantity may be a scalar (just a magnitude, just a number) or a vector, with magnitude and direction. For example, speed is a measure of how fast something is going, but velocity is a measure of how fast something is going AND the direction it is moving in. Vectors are often represented by arrows, with the size of the arrow representing the magnitude, and the direction the arrowhead is pointing representing the vector's direction.
Vectors may be written mathematically, as the product of their magnitude and unit vector (the unit vector just contains the information about the direction a vector is pointing in).e.g.
v = v*v^Vector = Magnitude * Unit vector
(The unit vector is often written like a normal vector with a "hat" pointing upwards on top of it, this is the best I could do.)
Related Physics A Level answers
All answers ▸A ball is thrown in the air with velocity of 50.0 m/s, assuming no air resistance calculate its maximum height.
The energy of a photon is 1.5MeV. Calculate the frequency associated with this photon energy and state an appropriate unit in your answer.
A ball is thrown at speed u = 10.0 m/s at an angle of 30.0 degrees to the ground at height, s = 0. How far does the ball travel horizontally from its starting position? (Ignore air resistance and taking g = 9.81 m/s^2)
What is the minimum height of a hill, so a ball of mass m falling from it can go through a loop of radius R?