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© 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Kinematics
Describing the Motion
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Classical mechanics studies the motion of macroscopic bodies. It is the backbone of modern physics
because it furnishes the basic conceptual framework of nearly all of physics. Its basic concepts, such
as energy, momentum, and angular momentum, and the conservation laws associated with these
basic concepts are of the greatest importance in all branches of physics.
Newton and Galileo rst laid the foundations of classical mechanics in the 17th century. The
essential physics of their mechanics, known as Newtonian mechanics, is contained in Newton’s
three laws of ...