ABSTRACT
The atomic/molecular composition of matter is well established. On a small enough scale, a body of aluminum, is really a collection of discrete aluminum atoms stacked on one another in a particular repetitive lattice. And on an even smaller scale, the atoms consist of a core of protons and neutrons around which electrons orbit. Thus matter is not continuous. At the same time, the physical space in which we live is truly a continuum, for mathematics teaches us that between any two points in space we can always find another point regardless of how close together we choose the original pair. Clearly then, although we may speak of a material body as “occupying” a region of physical space, it is evident that the body does not totally “fill” the space it occupies. It is this “occupying” of space that will be the basis of our study of continuum mechanics.
