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If a, b, c are three vectors such that a + b + c = 0 ,  then prove that a × b = b × c = c × a, and hence show that [a b c] = 0.

This is a question of CBSE Sample Paper - Class 12 - 2017/18.

You can download the question paper here  https://www.teachoo.com/cbse/sample-papers/



Transcript

Question 20 If 𝑎 ⃗, 𝑏 ⃗, 𝑐 ⃗ are three vectors such that 𝑎 ⃗ + 𝑏 ⃗ + 𝑐 ⃗ = 0 ⃗ , then prove that 𝑎 ⃗ × 𝑏 ⃗ = 𝑏 ⃗ × 𝑐 ⃗ = 𝑐 ⃗ × 𝑎 ⃗, and hence show that [𝑎 ⃗" " 𝑏 ⃗" " 𝑐 ⃗ ] = 0. Theory Here [𝑎 ⃗" " 𝑏 ⃗" " 𝑐 ⃗ ] = 𝑎 ⃗.(𝑏 ⃗ × 𝑐 ⃗ ) Given 𝑎 ⃗ + 𝑏 ⃗ + 𝑐 ⃗ = 0 ⃗ 𝑎 ⃗×(𝑎 ⃗+𝑏 ⃗+𝑐 ⃗ )= 𝑎 ⃗×0 ⃗ 𝑎 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗+𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗+𝑎 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗= 0 ⃗ Since 𝑎 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗=0 " " 0+𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗+𝑎 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=" " 0 ⃗ 𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗+𝑎 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=" " 0 ⃗ 𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗=−𝑎 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗ Since −𝑎 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗ = 𝑐 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗ 𝒂 ⃗×𝒃 ⃗=𝒄 ⃗×𝒂 ⃗ Similarly, 𝑎 ⃗ + 𝑏 ⃗ + 𝑐 ⃗ = 0 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×(𝑎 ⃗+𝑏 ⃗+𝑐 ⃗ )= 𝑏 ⃗×0 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗+𝑏 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗+𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗= 0 ⃗ Since 𝑏 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗=0 𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗+0+𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗= 0 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗+𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=" " 0 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=−𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=−𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗ Since −𝑏 ⃗×𝑎 ⃗ = 𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ Thus, 𝒂 ⃗×𝒃 ⃗=𝒄 ⃗×𝒂 ⃗ & 𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗=𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ ∴ 𝒂 ⃗×𝒃 ⃗=𝒃 ⃗×𝒄 ⃗=𝒄 ⃗×𝒂 ⃗ Now, we need to show that show that [𝑎 ⃗" " 𝑏 ⃗" " 𝑐 ⃗ ] = 0 [𝑎 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗ 𝑐 ⃗ ]=𝑎 ⃗ . (𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗ ) From (1): 𝑏 ⃗×𝑐 ⃗ = 𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ =𝑎 ⃗ . (𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ ) Now, 𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ will be a vector perpendicular to 𝑎 ⃗ And dot product of 𝑎 ⃗ with a vector perpendicular to 𝑎 ⃗ will be 0 as angle is 90° and cos 90° = 0 ∴ [𝑎 ⃗ 𝑏 ⃗ 𝑐 ⃗ ]=𝑎 ⃗ . (𝑎 ⃗×𝑏 ⃗ ) = 0 Hence proved

  1. Class 12
  2. Solutions of Sample Papers and Past Year Papers - for Class 12 Boards

About the Author

Davneet Singh

Davneet Singh has done his B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has been teaching from the past 14 years. He provides courses for Maths, Science and Computer Science at Teachoo