ABSTRACT
Basic physics teaches us that force and motion are strictly related and are inseparable by nature. This fact – which is by no means obvious – is at present a key result with deep ramications in almost every branch of physics and engineering. One of these branches is dynamics: the study that relates the motion of physical bodies to the forces acting on them. Within certain limitations, this is the realm of Newton’s laws (see Chapter 3, Section 3.1), in the framework of the discipline generally referred to as classical physics. In mathematical form, the fact that force causes a change in the state of motion of a body is expressed by Newton’s second law
F
t m= ( )d
d ν (1.1)
which denes the unit of force once the units of mass and distance are given.
