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The study of mechanics is complicated by the fact that household words like energy are used with a technical meaning. [10] [11] Moreover, words which are synonymous in everyday speech are not so in physics: force is not the same as power or pressure, for example, and mass has a different meaning than weight.
Physical cosmology – the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. Planetary science – the scientific study of planets (including Earth), moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them.
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. [1] Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. [2] [3] [4] A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.
A system is composed of particles, whose average motions define its properties, which in turn are related to one another through equations of state. Properties can be combined to express internal energy and thermodynamic potentials, which are useful for determining conditions for equilibrium and spontaneous processes.
Classical mechanics was traditionally divided into three main branches. Statics is the branch of classical mechanics that is concerned with the analysis of force and torque acting on a physical system that does not experience an acceleration, but rather is in equilibrium with its environment. [3]
An equilibrium state is mathematically ascertained by seeking the extrema of a thermodynamic potential function, whose nature depends on the constraints imposed on the system. For example, a chemical reaction at constant temperature and pressure will reach equilibrium at a minimum of its components' Gibbs free energy and a maximum of their entropy.
Lagrangian mechanics describes a mechanical system as a pair (M, L) consisting of a configuration space M and a smooth function within that space called a Lagrangian. For many systems, L = T − V, where T and V are the kinetic and potential energy of the system, respectively. [3]
[4] [5] [6] A kinematics problem begins by describing the geometry of the system and declaring the initial conditions of any known values of position, velocity and/or acceleration of points within the system. Then, using arguments from geometry, the position, velocity and acceleration of any unknown parts of the system can be determined.