Chapter 12

Mechanics 2: Linear and Rotational Dynamics

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power.It’s an energy field created by all living things.It surrounds us and penetrates us.It binds the galaxy together.

— Obi-Wan Kenobi inStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Chapter 11 was about linear kinematics—how to describe the motion of object, without concerning ourselves with the “cause” of the motion, its orientation, or how we might go about simulating that object on a computer. The main goals of this chapter are to address those three topics.

  • Section 12.1 identifies and quantifies the “cause” of motion, force, and presents three physical laws formalized more than 400 years ago by Isaac Newton in his masterwork the Principia.
  • Section 12.2 ...

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