Timeline of classical mechanics

Last updated

The following is a timeline of classical mechanics :

Contents

Antiquity

Early mechanics

Newtonian mechanics

Analytical mechanics

Moderns developments

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of physics</span> Historical development of physics

Physics is a branch of science whose primary objects of study are matter and energy. Discoveries of physics find applications throughout the natural sciences and in technology. Historically, physics emerged from the scientific revolution of the 17th century, grew rapidly in the 19th century, then was transformed by a series of discoveries in the 20th century. Physics today may be divided loosely into classical physics and modern physics.

Inertia is the tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes its speed or direction to change. It is one of the fundamental principles in classical physics, and described by Isaac Newton in his first law of motion. It is one of the primary manifestations of mass, one of the core quantitative properties of physical systems. Newton writes:

LAW I. Every object perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, except insofar as it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon.

Mechanics is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects result in displacements, which are changes of an object's position relative to its environment.

Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws, which provide the basis for Newtonian mechanics, can be paraphrased as follows:

  1. A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, except insofar as it is acted upon by a force.
  2. At any instant of time, the net force on a body is equal to the body's acceleration multiplied by its mass or, equivalently, the rate at which the body's momentum is changing with time.
  3. If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernoulli's principle</span> Principle relating to fluid dynamics

Bernoulli's principle is a key concept in fluid dynamics that relates pressure, speed and height. Bernoulli's principle states that an increase in the speed of a parcel of fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in either the pressure or the height above a datum. The principle is named after the Swiss mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli, who published it in his book Hydrodynamica in 1738. Although Bernoulli deduced that pressure decreases when the flow speed increases, it was Leonhard Euler in 1752 who derived Bernoulli's equation in its usual form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equations of motion</span> Equations that describe the behavior of a physical system

In physics, equations of motion are equations that describe the behavior of a physical system in terms of its motion as a function of time. More specifically, the equations of motion describe the behavior of a physical system as a set of mathematical functions in terms of dynamic variables. These variables are usually spatial coordinates and time, but may include momentum components. The most general choice are generalized coordinates which can be any convenient variables characteristic of the physical system. The functions are defined in a Euclidean space in classical mechanics, but are replaced by curved spaces in relativity. If the dynamics of a system is known, the equations are the solutions for the differential equations describing the motion of the dynamics.

In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brachistochrone curve</span> Fastest curve descent without friction

In physics and mathematics, a brachistochrone curve, or curve of fastest descent, is the one lying on the plane between a point A and a lower point B, where B is not directly below A, on which a bead slides frictionlessly under the influence of a uniform gravitational field to a given end point in the shortest time. The problem was posed by Johann Bernoulli in 1696.

Abu'l-Barakāt Hibat Allah ibn Malkā al-Baghdādī was an Islamic philosopher, physician and physicist of Jewish descent from Baghdad, Iraq. Abu'l-Barakāt, an older contemporary of Maimonides, was originally known by his Hebrew birth name Baruch ben Malka and was given the name of Nathanel by his pupil Isaac ben Ezra before his conversion from Judaism to Islam later in his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Differential equation</span> Type of functional equation (mathematics)

In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, and the differential equation defines a relationship between the two. Such relations are common; therefore, differential equations play a prominent role in many disciplines including engineering, physics, economics, and biology.

In physics, mechanics is the study of objects, their interaction, and motion; classical mechanics is mechanics limited to non-relativistic and non-quantum approximations. Most of the techniques of classical mechanics were developed before 1900 so the term classical mechanics refers to that historical era as well as the approximations. Other fields of physics that were developed in the same era, that use the same approximations, and are also considered "classical" include thermodynamics and electromagnetism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of gravitational theory</span>

In physics, theories of gravitation postulate mechanisms of interaction governing the movements of bodies with mass. There have been numerous theories of gravitation since ancient times. The first extant sources discussing such theories are found in ancient Greek philosophy. This work was furthered through the Middle Ages by Indian, Islamic, and European scientists, before gaining great strides during the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution—culminating in the formulation of Newton's law of gravity. This was superseded by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Calculators</span> Group of 14th-century English mathematicians and philosophers

The Oxford Calculators were a group of 14th-century thinkers, almost all associated with Merton College, Oxford; for this reason they were dubbed "The Merton School". These men took a strikingly logical and mathematical approach to philosophical problems. The key "calculators", writing in the second quarter of the 14th century, were Thomas Bradwardine, William Heytesbury, Richard Swineshead and John Dumbleton. Using the slightly earlier works of Walter Burley, Gerard of Brussels, and Nicole Oresme, these individuals expanded upon the concepts of 'latitudes' and what real world applications they could apply them to.

Aristotelian physics is the form of natural philosophy described in the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In his work Physics, Aristotle intended to establish general principles of change that govern all natural bodies, both living and inanimate, celestial and terrestrial – including all motion, quantitative change, qualitative change, and substantial change. To Aristotle, 'physics' was a broad field including subjects which would now be called the philosophy of mind, sensory experience, memory, anatomy and biology. It constitutes the foundation of the thought underlying many of his works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theory of impetus</span>

The theory of impetus is an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. It was introduced by John Philoponus in the 6th century, and elaborated by Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji at the end of the 12th century. The theory was modified by Avicenna in the 11th century and Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī in the 12th century, before it was later established in Western scientific thought by Jean Buridan in the 14th century. It is the intellectual precursor to the concepts of inertia, momentum and acceleration in classical mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of calculus and mathematical analysis</span> Summary of advancements in Calculus

A timeline of calculus and mathematical analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mean speed theorem</span>

The mean speed theorem, also known as the Merton rule of uniform acceleration, was discovered in the 14th century by the Oxford Calculators of Merton College, and was proved by Nicole Oresme. It states that a uniformly accelerated body travels the same distance as a body with uniform speed whose speed is half the final velocity of the accelerated body.

<i>Horologium Oscillatorium</i> 1673 book on pendular motion by Christiaan Huygens

Horologium Oscillatorium: Sive de Motu Pendulorum ad Horologia Aptato Demonstrationes Geometricae is a book published by Dutch mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens in 1673 and his major work on pendula and horology. It is regarded as one of the three most important works on mechanics in the 17th century, the other two being Galileo’s Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638) and Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687).

References

  1. Ossendrijver, Mathieu (29 Jan 2016). "Ancient Babylonian astronomers calculated Jupiter's position from the area under a time-velocity graph". Science. 351 (6272): 482–484. Bibcode:2016Sci...351..482O. doi:10.1126/science.aad8085. PMID   26823423. S2CID   206644971 . Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  2. Sambursky, Samuel (2014). The Physical World of Late Antiquity. Princeton University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN   9781400858989.
  3. Sorabji, Richard (2010). "John Philoponus". Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science (2nd ed.). Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. p. 47. ISBN   978-1-905-67018-5. JSTOR   44216227. OCLC   878730683.
  4. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Al-Biruni", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive , University of St Andrews :
    "One of the most important of al-Biruni's many texts is Shadows which he is thought to have written around 1021. [...] Shadows is an extremely important source for our knowledge of the history of mathematics, astronomy, and physics. It also contains important ideas such as the idea that acceleration is connected with non-uniform motion, using three rectangular coordinates to define a point in 3-space, and ideas that some see as anticipating the introduction of polar coordinates."
  5. Shlomo Pines (1964), "La dynamique d’Ibn Bajja", in Mélanges Alexandre Koyré, I, 442-468 [462, 468], Paris.
    (cf. Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", Journal of the History of Ideas64 (4), p. 521-546 [543]: "Pines has also seen Avempace's idea of fatigue as a precursor to the Leibnizian idea of force which, according to him, underlies Newton's third law of motion and the concept of the "reaction" of forces.")
  6. Pines, Shlomo (1970). "Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī, Hibat Allah". Dictionary of Scientific Biography . Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 26–28. ISBN   0-684-10114-9.:
    (cf. Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", Journal of the History of Ideas64 (4), p. 521-546 [528]: Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Bagdadi (c.1080- after 1164/65) extrapolated the theory for the case of falling bodies in an original way in his Kitab al-Mu'tabar (The Book of that Which is Established through Personal Reflection). [...] This idea is, according to Pines, "the oldest negation of Aristotle's fundamental dynamic law [namely, that a constant force produces a uniform motion]," and is thus an "anticipation in a vague fashion of the fundamental law of classical mechanics [namely, that a force applied continuously produces acceleration].")
  7. Clagett (1968, p. 561), Nicole Oresme and the Medieval Geometry of Qualities and Motions; a treatise on the uniformity and difformity of intensities known as Tractatus de configurationibus qualitatum et motuum. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN   0-299-04880-2.
  8. Grant, 1996, p.103.
  9. F. Jamil Ragep (2001), "Tusi and Copernicus: The Earth's Motion in Context", Science in Context14 (1-2), p. 145–163. Cambridge University Press.
  10. "Timeline of Classical Mechanics and Free Fall". www.scientus.org. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  11. Sharratt, Michael (1994). Galileo: Decisive Innovator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-56671-1, p. 198
  12. Wallace, William A. (2004). Domingo de Soto and the Early Galileo. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN   0-86078-964-0 (pp. II 384, II 400, III 272)
  13. Ismail Bullialdus, Astronomia Philolaica … (Paris, France: Piget, 1645), page 23.
  14. Rob Iliffe & George E. Smith (2016). The Cambridge Companion to Newton. Cambridge University Press. p. 75. ISBN   9781107015463.
  15. Hermann, J (1710). "Unknown title". Giornale de Letterati d'Italia. 2: 447–467.
    Hermann, J (1710). "Extrait d'une lettre de M. Herman à M. Bernoulli datée de Padoüe le 12. Juillet 1710". Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. 1732: 519–521.
  16. Poinsot (1834) Theorie Nouvelle de la Rotation des Corps, Bachelier, Paris
  17. Poincaré, H. (January 1900). "Introduction". Acta Mathematica. 13 (1–2): 5–7. doi: 10.1007/BF02392506 . ISSN   0001-5962.
  18. 1 2 3 Oestreicher, Christian (2007-09-30). "A history of chaos theory". Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. 9 (3): 279–289. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2007.9.3/coestreicher. ISSN   1958-5969. PMC   3202497 . PMID   17969865.
  19. Parker, E.N. (1954). "Tensor Virial Equations". Physical Review. 96 (6): 1686–1689. Bibcode:1954PhRv...96.1686P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.96.1686.
  20. V. I. Arnold, Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics, Graduate Texts in Mathematics (Springer, New York, 1978), Vol. 60.