Vector Cross Products

Carrie Higgenbotham

Go to the web site: http://suhep.phy.syr.edu/courses/java-suite/crosspro.html

1. Line up b so that it is parallel to a. What happens to c?

2. Line up b so that it's perpendicular to a. What happens to c?

3. Keeping b perpedicular to a, shorten b. What happens to c?

4. Play around with a or b — can you make c drop beneath the plane? How?

5. Spin the plane. Does c seem to be perpendicular to it?

DIRECTIONS: Place the vectors A and B where the angle is as specified below. Then click on the Numerical Info button at the bottom of the picture. Record the x, y, and z components for all three vectors in the chart below. Now do the same for the angle of your choice.

Note: It is hard to get the components to be an integer so you can round the number to the nearest integer.

6. What mathematical process is used to find the C components?

7. Now use this mathematical process to find C when A = (5, 10, 6) and B = (6, 8, 5). (Use the space below to calculate the C components.)