Mechanics

Mechanics is a branch of physics which looks at objects that are moved by forces (including other bodies, or forces of nature). A person working in this discipline is known as a mechanician.

Mechanics started in ancient Greece where Aristotle studied how things moved when they were thrown through the air. Since then Galileo, Kepler and Newton figured out a lot more about mechanics.thumb|Animation of Newton's cradle from Newton's book Principia Mathematica.

 Significance 
Mechanics started out as the study of parts of the world that are big enough for humans to see them. Mechanics studies the movement of all Matter in the universe. It studies gravity, strong and weak interactions, and Electromagnetism.

 Different Types of classical mechanics 
 Kinematics, the study of motion
 Astrodynamics, spacecraft navigation, orbital eccentricity, etc.
 Celestial mechanics, motions of planets and other astronomical objects
 Solid mechanics, elasticity, the properties of (semi-)rigid bodies
 Acoustics, sound in solids, fluids, etc.
 Hydraulics, fluids in equilibrium
 Applied / Engineering mechanics
 Statistical mechanics, large assemblies of particles
 Relativistic or Einsteinian mechanics, universal gravitation

 Newton 
Newton proposed three laws of motion. 
An object will stay at a constant speed unless a force acts on it. 
F= Ma: the overall force acting on an object is the mass of the object times the object's acceleration.
For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.

 Quantum mechanics 
The following are categorized as being part of Quantum mechanics:
 Particle physics, the motion, structure, and reactions of particles
 Nuclear physics, the motion, structure, and reactions of nuclei
 Condensed matter physics, quantum gases, solids, liquids, etc.
 Quantum statistical mechanics, large assemblies of particles

Related pages
 Kinematics
 Mechanical engineering
 Physics

 Other websites 
Blogs:
 iMechanica: the web of mechanics and mechanicians
 Mechanics Blog by a Purdue University Professor
 The Mechanics program at Virginia Tech