Basic Principles of Classical Mechanics

Abstract

To describe the motion of mechanical systems one uses a variety of mathematical models which are based on different “principles” — laws of motion. In this chapter we list the basic objects and principles of classical mechanics. The simplest and most important model of motion of real bodies is Newtonian mechanics, which describes the motion of a free system of interacting point masses in three-dimensional Euclidean space. In §6 we discuss the extent to which Newtonian mechanics is useful in describing complicated models of motion.