Classical mechanics

In physics, a force is an action that can cause an object to change its velocity or its shape, or to resist other forces, or to cause changes of pressure in a fluid. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and direction of a force are both important, force is a vector quantity (force vector). The SI unit of force is the newton (N), and force is often represented by the symbol .

classical formulation of Mechanics by Isaac Newton

sub-field of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the action of a system of forces

Kinematics is a subfield of physics and a branch of geometry. In physics, kinematics studies the geometrical aspects of motion of physical objects independent of forces that set them in motion. Constrained motion such as linked machine parts are also described as kinematics. In geometry, kinematics studies the time dependence of geometrical quantities such as position, distance and angular measure with respect to a frame of reference. Most frequently, the quantities that kinematics deals with are the time derivatives of these quantities and the relations between them. Objects whose motion is

thumb|360px|The blue plate has more friction on the sloped surface than the green one, so slides down slower.

apparent or fictitious force on objects moving within a reference frame that rotates with respect to an inertial frame

right|thumb|A sphere rotating (spinning) about an axis

branch of astronomy

unique point where the weighted relative position of a distributed mass sums to zero

force; aerodynamics term

integral of a force over the time interval for which it acts; term in classical mechanics

branch of physics which studies the behavior of materials modeled as continuous media

mathematical model explaining macroscopic properties of gases in microscopic terms

frame of reference not undergoing acceleration

object movement along a circular path

to and fro periodic motion in science and engineering

classical mechanics problem of three massive point particles interacting via Newtonian gravity; special case of the 𝑛‐body problem for 𝑛=3

formulation of classical mechanics in terms of phase space and Hamiltonian function

differential equation that describes the motion of a physical system

apparent force that acts on all masses whose motion is described using a non-inertial frame of reference, such as a rotating reference frame

rate of change of acceleration

particle with no physical extent, either an idealization or a feature of elementary particles

thumb|upright|Underdamped spring–mass system with

a variational principle that, when applied to the action of a mechanical system, can be used to obtain the equations of motion for that system

principle

motion along a dimension of length (straight line in space)

force directed towards or away from a point

theoretical foundation of Newtonian mechanics

how efficiently a reaction mass engine creates thrust, which is often proportional to effective exhaust gas velocity

collision in which kinetic energy is conserved and not dissipated

geometric engineering calculation technique

alternative explanation of the non-Newtonian rotation of galaxies

concept in quantum mechanics

principle in classical mechanics stating that the laws of motion are the same in all inertial frames

pattern of motion in which all parts of the system move sinusoidally with the same frequency and with a fixed phase relation

force resisting the motion when a body (such as a ball, tire, or wheel) rolls on a surface

vector used chiefly to describe the shape and orientation of the orbit of one astronomical body around another, such as a planet revolving around a star

frame of reference

A hodograph is a diagram that gives a vectorial visual representation of the movement of a body or a fluid. It is the locus of one end of a variable vector, with the other end fixed. The position of any plotted data on such a diagram is proportional to the velocity of the moving particle. It is also called a velocity diagram. It appears to have been used by James Bradley, but its practical development is mainly from Sir William Rowan Hamilton, who published an account of it in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in 1846.

collision where energy is lost to heat, so that kinetic energy is not conserved

part of Newton's laws

problem of predicting the individual motions of a group of celestial objects interacting with each other gravitationally

particle that, in some sense, is not bound by an external force, or equivalently not in a region where its potential energy varies

velocity of an object or observer B in the rest frame of another object or observer A

forms of energy

concept similar to inertia and momentum

theorem that, among central-force potentials with bound orbits, there are only 2 types of central-force scalar potentials such that all bound orbits are closed: inverse square and radial harmonic

in classical mechanics, configuration of a system consisting of the set of positions taken by all components subject to kinematical constraints

aspect of history

measure used to characterise inelastic collisions

phase of a cycle

theorem that, in a 3d rigid body with 3 principal axes, rotation around 1st and 3rd principal axes is stable, but rotation around 2nd principal axis is not

type of constraints for optimization problems

special case of the two-body problem

Displacement in analytical mechanics

the density of a two-dimensional object, or of the surface of a three-dimensional object, calculated as the mass per area

spinning physics toy

special case of a non-inertial reference frame that is rotating relative to an inertial reference frame