Classical mechanics deals with the motion of bodies under the influence of forces or with the equilibrium of bodies when all forces are balanced. The subject may be thought of as the elaboration and application of basic postulates first enunciated by Isaac Newton in his…

In the West, however, Newtonian physics and Enlightenment rationalism largely eradicated the widespread belief in astrology, yet Western astrology is far from dead, as demonstrated by the strong popular following it gained in the 1960s. There were even attempts to reestablish a firm theoretical basis for it, notably by…

…would restore the determinism of classical physics.

…engineering has evolved from the practice by the mechanic of an art based largely on trial and error to the application by the professional engineer of the scientific method in research, design, and production. The demand for increased efficiency is continually raising the quality of work expected from a mechanical…

The Newtonian doctrine according to which space and time (see also space-time) are absolute or substantive realities had been incisively criticized by the 17th-century rationalist Gottfried Leibniz and was subjected by Mach to even more searching scrutiny. While Leibniz

The rate at which the position of a particle is changing at a particular time, as time flows forward, is called the velocity of the particle at that time. The rate at which the velocity of a particle is changing at a particular…

This theory of classical mechanics is described in detail in the article mechanics, but some general comments may be offered here. For the present purpose, it seems sufficient to consider only bodies moving along a straight line and acted upon by forces parallel to the motion. Newton’s laws…

Mechanics was one of the most highly developed sciences pursued in the Middle Ages. Operating within a fundamentally Aristotelian framework, medieval physicists criticized and attempted to improve many aspects of Aristotle’s physics.

…fought in the realm of mechanics as well as astronomy. The Ptolemaic–Aristotelian system stood or fell as a monolith, and it rested on the idea of Earth’s fixity at the centre of the cosmos. Removing Earth from the centre destroyed the doctrine of natural motion and place, and circular motion…

In classical mechanics the behaviour of a dynamical system can be described geometrically as motion on an “attractor.” The mathematics of classical mechanics effectively recognized three types of attractor: single points (characterizing steady states), closed loops (periodic cycles), and tori (combinations of several cycles). In the…

…small or large, obey the laws of mechanics, and all phenomena are in the last analysis based on matter in motion. A conceptual difficulty in Newtonian mechanics, however, is the way in which the gravitational force between two massive objects acts over a distance across empty space. Newton did not…

…that made the laws of mechanics simpler, and its discrepancy with apparent time was attributed to such things as irregularities in the motion of Earth. Insofar as these motions were explained by Newton’s mechanics (or at least could not be shown to be inexplicable), the procedure was vindicated. Similarly, in…

…the so-called first law of mechanics—namely, that a body in motion, freed from friction and from all other forces, would move, not in a circle, but in a straight line at uniform speed. The frame of reference for making such measurements was ultimately the “fixed stars.” Galileo also argued that,…

…reduced to the laws of classical mechanics, which, in his view, encompassed matter, force, and, later, energy, as the whole of reality.

…so-called Lagrangian equations for a classical mechanical system in which the kinetic energy of the system is related to the generalized coordinates, the corresponding generalized forces, and the time. The book was typically analytic; he stated in his preface that “one cannot find any figures in this work.”

…laws of motion, known as mechanics, Leibniz became, in 1676, the founder of a new formulation, known as dynamics, which substituted kinetic energy for the conservation of movement. At the same time, beginning with the principle that light follows the path of least resistance, he believed that he could demonstrate…

According to Leonardo’s observations, the study of mechanics, with which he became quite familiar as an architect and engineer, also reflected the workings of nature. Throughout his life Leonardo was an inventive builder; he thoroughly understood the principles of mechanics of his…

…and astronomer who helped popularize Newtonian mechanics.