Abstract
This chapter illustrates the kinematics and dynamics of point masses as well as some basic vector operations and numerical integration methods. A vector is an object that is specified by both a magnitude and a direction. The sum or resultant of two vectors is defined by the parallelogram rule. Multiplication and division of two vectors are undefined operations. The cross product of two vectors yields another vector. The degree to which the motion is altered is a measure of the force, and Newton's second law of motion quantifies this. This chapter presents vectors and some vector operations, problem of describing a curvilinear motion of particles in three dimensions, concepts of force and mass, Newton's inverse-square law of gravitation followed by a presentation of Newton's second law of motion, the important concept of angular momentum, and an introduction to numerical integration methods that can be called upon to solve the equations of motion when an analytical solution is not possible.
Published Version
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