Mechanics

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 MECHANICS, THE SCIENCE OF MOTION

We see on TV images of rocket launching, of the Space Station and satellites orbiting the Earth, of the Voyager sailing into the distant domains of the solar system mapping the unchartered territories of distant planets. These are the most vivid and stirring symbols of motion that conjure up in our mind a world of space odyssey, of planets and stars and even galaxies moving through space in an expanding universe in which everything, including ourselves, is in motion.

To most of us Motion is a mental picture of this dynamical universe. We see, within the limitation of our senses, objects going from one place to another and in the process changing their locations in a continuous manner. ...