Mechanics Today

Abstract

Mechanics may now be said to have reached maturity, as the effects of electromagnetism become more profound in our everyday lives. Still, mechanics is ubiquitous, relating to such concepts as time-space. Furthermore, the development of the modern computer has enabled us to dramatically expand our ability to model important physical phenomena using mechanics, thus resulting in a new field of mechanics called computational mechanics. Perhaps even more importantly, we have been able to develop new materials, such as composites and so-called active materials, at least in part due to mechanics. Finally, the deployment of mechanics concepts in the engineering fields has resulted in a new age of massive construction projects, including canals, dams, and tunnels. Nonetheless, mechanically related failures such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse and the Challenger disaster are not uncommon in our world.

Time and space—time to be alone, space to move about—these may well become the greatest scarcities of tomorrow.

Edwin Way Teale (1899–1980)