Dynamics
As we have already observed, kinematics describes motion without regard to its causes. By contrast, dynamics analyses the causes of the motion and describes motion in a cause-effect framework. The fundamental laws of dynamics are Newton's laws of motion.
Prerequisites
- the fundamental quantities of kinematics: position, displacement, velocity and acceleration;
- vectors v scalars;
- vector operations (addition, subtraction);
- the fundamentals of differential calculus.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to
- interpret motion in a cause–effect framework;
- predict the motion of an object when the forces acting on it are known;
- employ the concept of force in analysing the interactions between objects;
- distinguish between static friction and kinetic friction and decide which to use to describe a given situation.
