The cross product $\vec{a} \times \vec{b}$ of two vectors has magnitude:

$|\vec{a} \times \vec{b}| = |\vec{a}||\vec{b}|\sin\theta$. The cross product is a vector perpendicular to both $\vec{a}$ and $\vec{b}$, with direction given by the right-hand rule. Its magnitude equals the area of the parallelogram spanned by $\vec{a}$ and $\vec{b}$. Geometric reading: when $\theta = 0$ or $\pi$ (parallel or anti-parallel), $\sin\theta = 0$ and the cross product vanishes, which is why parallel vectors have zero cross product.