Question

define unit vector and give its physical significance​

Answer 1

A vector with unit magnitude called unit vector. It specifies direction only not having any unit or dimension. It can change a scalar into a vector by just multiplying by it.

Unit vectors are often chosen to form the basis of a vector space. Every vector in the space may be written as a linear combination of unit vectors. By definition, in a Euclidean space the dot product of two unit vectors is a scalar value amounting to the cosine of the smaller subtended angle.

Answer 2

Unit Vector

When the magnitude of a vector is 1 i.e., unity, in a definite direction, it is a unit vector. A unit vector has no dimension or unit.

Physical significance of unit vector

• It represents definite direction of the particular quantity.
• Absolute value of any vector is a scalar. This scalar, multiplied by the unit vector in that direction, gives the corresponding vector.