Principles of Classical Mechanics

The basic laws of classical mechanics are Newton's Laws of Motion. The laws describe the effect of forces on the state of motion of a body, quantify the effects and relate it to the change in velocity of the body. They also tell us about the nature of a force.

The statements of the laws are :

1. A body continues to be in its state of motion unless an un balanced external force acts on it.
   
   
2. The force acting on a body is equal to the rate of change of its momentum. i.e.
   
   F = dp/dt
   
   
3. To every force, there is another with the same magnitude but acting in the opposite direction. ( To every action there is an equal and oppsite reaction. )

These three laws have a profound meaning and have helped us to analyze different types of motion. They have helped us to determine the orbits of planets, to launch rockets into space, to design complex machine parts and have a lot of other applications.

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ANALYZING NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION

• Newton's First Law of Motion
  
  
• Newton's Second Law of Motion
  
  
• Newton's Third Law of Motion
  
  

Related Links:

• Classical Mechanics main page
  
  
• Interesting applications of Classical Mechanics
  
  
• Principles of Classical Mechanics
  
  
• History of Classical Mechanics
  
  
• Classical Mechanics Related Technologies