Cross Product Review

After laying low for awhile, cross products have suddenly became very important in our current independent unit on Magnetism. For those who may have forgotten how to find a cross product, here are some reminders.

1. Cross products are needed when the multiplication of vectors is involved in the problem

2. To find cross product of a x b [where a is (a_x,a_y,a_z) and b is (b_x,b_y,b_z)]

c_x=(a_yb_z-a_zb_y)i

c_y=(a_zb_x-a_xb_z)_j

c_z=(a_xb_y-a_yb_x)_k

3. The cross product is then written:

a x b = (c_x,c_y,c_z)

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