About This Quiz
Do the sciences, especially physics, intimidate you? Break that annoying habit now and dive into matter and motion concepts that are really easy to grasp. You'll be a wise one after acing this classical mechanics drill. We promise to guide you along your intellectual journey from query to query by providing comprehensive explanations and clever hints to help you score better than you thought you ever could on a science exam!
But first, get a sound understanding of how classical mechanics came to be. English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton set things in motion with his seminal 17th-century work "Principia." Before Newton came along, folks understood the motion phenomenon in more of a philosophical context. Newton streamlined old ideas with his new principles and the rest is history. Newer subdivisions of classical mechanics and more refined ways of understanding the discipline keep surfacing. If you didn't know it by now, we are living in exciting science times. Our quiz helps you to gain a greater appreciation for the scientific innovations that make the headlines each day.
This quiz begins with the premise that sums up most of what classical mechanics is all about: "An object at rest stays at rest." From there, you'll roll through enlightening motion concepts that are sure to satisfy your science cravings. So dig in!
Classical mechanics deals with how an object behaves when it is subjected to forces of various sorts. It also is concerned with the types of forces that act on objects that are not in motion.
English scientist Sir Isaac Newton established the main principles of classical mechanics in his 1687 work titled "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica," or "Principia" for short. Relativity and quantum mechanics, which are based on Newton's principles, were developed in the 20th century.
Johanes Kepler's second and third Laws of Planetary Motion are in sync with Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. The theoretical basis of the elliptical motion of planets and comets is based on Newton's attractive gravitational force law.
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The rotational effect of a force relies on the direction of the force and the force's magnitude. Torque is specific to an axis of rotation, as with a seesaw apparatus, for example. The force vector lies in a plane parallel to the axis.
Not all natural forces are conservative forces. A force that acts on charged particles in a magnetic field, for example, relies on particle velocity as well as particle position. Gravity is a conservative force.
Circular motion is non-rectilinear motion, or motion that is not in a straight line. Change of particle direction, as defined by an acceleration component, while moving along a circular formation largely distinguishes circular motion from non-rectilinear motion.
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In contrast, dynamics is the study of bodies in motion. Civil engineering utilizes statics, which is a subdivision of classical mechanics, to determine theoretical forces that might affect dams, bridges, buildings, and the interconnected components of these structures, in particular.
That a particle's path is a crucial position of action is the basic concept behind Lagrangian classical mechanics, which is derived from Newton's law F = ma, where "F" equals force and "m" equals mass. Joseph-Louis Lagrange's 1788 text Mécanique Analytique provides more subdued mechanics analysis.
In physics, the mass and weight of an object are distinct. The mass is an object's tendency to not sway from consistent motion in a straight line when affected by external forces. An object's weight is the magnitude of force and is dependent on the object's location.
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Considering Newton's F = ma principle, where "m" is mass and "a" is acceleration, it is more difficult to affect an object of greater mass than an object of smaller mass when both objects are acted upon by forces ("F") of the same magnitude. The bigger the mass, the less the acceleration.
An object's weight is not intrinsic to the object since the object's weight is based on its location. Gravity's pull on a body varies according to the object's location on Earth. However, gravitational pull is greater for objects of greater mass.
Newton's second law of motion takes into consideration the net forces, or total force, acting upon an object. Normal force is determined by the direction of the acceleration such that a sum of all contributing forces perpendicular to the direction equals zero.
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Sir Isaac Newton's classical mechanics theorized motion as a natural phenomenon that can be explained mathematically. Newton insisted, and modern physics agrees, that an object does not move or behave simply as a result of the object's proximity to humans, which is an Aristotelian concept.
Quantum mechanics improves upon classical mechanics theories regarding areas of physics that Newton had little knowledge of. Quantum mechanics explores atomic- and subatomic-level factors that require the application of advanced physics concepts, such as Planck's constant.
This is Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion. Newton expounded further, saying, "The mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal , and directed to contrary points." Press your hand against a wall, and the wall presses your hand at the same time.
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In addition to quantum mechanics, special relativity theory is a basis for modern physics hypotheses concerning uniform motion and inertial frames. German-born physicist Albert Einstein developed the ground-breaking theory of relativity in 1905.
Newton's "Principia" was first published in Latin, but he proved his core mathematical concepts that define classical mechanics geometrically. The English translation of the "Principia's" full title is "The Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy."
In other words, as it is more popularly repeated: "An object in motion stays in motion." An object's velocity is consistent only when there are no forces acting upon the object, or if the sum of all forces acting on the object equals zero.
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Scientific method is the procedure still utilized today. Newton revolutionized scientific understanding by merging mathematical analysis with experimental induction through observation.
Instantaneous positioning describes a particle's position at a specific point in time. Instantaneous velocity, instantaneous acceleration, instantaneous power, instantaneous length and instantaneous axis are all terms that express respective physics attributes in relation to a specific moment in time.
Werner Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physics for his quantum mechanics discovery, which he conceptualized in 1925 and formally communicated in 1927. Heisenberg's concepts are based on his uncertainty principle, also called the indeterminacy principle.
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Acceleration is intricately tied to time; average acceleration is the velocity rate of change over a time interval. Instantaneous acceleration means average acceleration over a minuscule time interval. Acceleration is a derived quantity that can be conveyed as a combination of length, time and mass.
During the twentieth century, Newton's classical mechanics theories were challenged and modernized by scientists such as William Hamilton and Joseph-Louis Lagrange. In the twenty-first century, mechanics concepts have been refined further through catastrophe and chaos theories.
Kinematics, per say, does not quantify anything in physics. It can be perceived as a universal mathematical language of classical mechanics that clearly exemplifies the motion laws of physics.
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Frictional force develops when an object slides over a rough surface, thus hindering the object's movement. Computationally, friction is expressed as a normal reaction constant of proportionality dependent on the nature of the surface, which is multiplied by a coefficient of dynamical friction.
What Newton defined as "motion" is referred to as "momentum" today. The momentum of a particle is mass times a velocity vector. A system's "momenta" is often analyzed in physics, as with angular momentum loss in astrophysics by which gravity's influence on massive interstellar bodies is examined.
One of the first things that a physicist does when considering the relationship between forces and motion is determine which forces affect a particular body. Bodies exert forces on other things, causing a pull and push scenario which must be considered when assessing an object's net force.
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French mathematician Alexis Clairaut deduced a satisfactory result for the three-body problem. These kinds of problems take into consideration three points of mass that interact gravitationally. Classical mechanics typically evaluates two moving points of mass in an isolated dynamic system.
Static charge distributions generate electric fields, which are termed electrostatic. Electrostatic force is an electrical force applied between two stationary charges. This concept is named after French scientist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb who devised the electrostatic law of force in 1788.
Planets move elliptically around the Sun. The perihelion of a planet body is the position on a planet's orbit that's closest to the Sun. When processing planetary perihelion, interplanetary forces are defined as uniform concentric rings centered at the Sun with radius being the mean orbital radius.
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Italian physicist Galileo Galilei was the first to conceptualize the concept of inertia, that an object maintains constant velocity unless affected by an external force. This quality is essential to all bodies of matter. Newton later streamlined the concept into the classical mechanics laws.
Two simple cases in classical mechanics are when a body is at rest and when a body maintains constant velocity, or a constant rate of speed in the same direction over a level planar surface. When assessing velocity changes, the change in time must be kept small as not to void the velocity vector.
Average velocity quantifies an object's change of position over time, while acceleration determines its change (increase) in the rate of speed. Therefore, acceleration assesses velocity's rate of change over time.
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In classical mechanics, translational motion and rotational motion are analogous in that the two types are expressed similarly mathematically. A rolling (rotating) bowling ball moving (translating) down a bowling lane is an example of both translational motion and rotational motion at play.
In physics, a moving body that oscillates regularly changes position or magnitude around a center point. Generally, the magnitude of the natural restorative force on an object (to return the object to a state of equilibrium) is proportional to the object's equilibrium displacement.