Classical Mechanics

Classical mechanics describes the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecrafts, planets, stars, and galaxies.

If the present state of an object is known it is possible to predict by the laws of classical mechanics how it will move in the future (determinism) and how it moved in the past (reversibility).

The earliest development of classical mechanics is often referred to as Newtonian mechanics. It consists of the physical concepts employed and the mathematical methods invented by Sir Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and others in the 17th century to describe the motion of bodies under the influence of a system of forces.

Later, more abstract methods were developed, leading to the reformulations of classical mechanics known as Langrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics. These advances, made predominantly in the 18th and 19th centuries, extend substantially beyond Newton's work, particularly through their use of analytical mechanics. They are, with some modification, also used in all areas of modern physics.

Classical mechanics provides extremely accurate results when studying large objects that are not extremely massive and speeds not approaching the speed of light. When the objects being examined have about the size of an atom diameter, it becomes necessary to introduce the other subfield of mechanics: quantum mechanics. To describe velocities that are not small compared to the speed of light, special relativity is needed. In cases where objects become extremely massive, general relativity becomes applicable. However, a number of modern sources do include relativistic mechanics in classical physics, which in their view represents classical mechanics in its most developed and accurate form.

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