GCSE Physics (CCEA)

Topic Summaries

Forces

Scalars and vectors

  • Quantities can be scalars or vectors. Scalars only have size, whereas vectors have both size and direction.
  • Vector quantities can be represented as arrows that point in the direction of the vector. Their length represents the size of the vector.
  • Distance is a scalar quantity that describes how far an object moves or how far apart two objects are. Displacement is a vector quantity measured as a straight line from a start point to a finish point.

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