kinematics (redirected from kinematic)

kinematics: see dynamics.

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kinematics

Branch of physics concerned with the geometrically possible motion of a body or system of bodies, without consideration of the forces involved. It describes the spatial position of bodies or systems, their velocities, and their acceleration. See also dynamics.

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kinematics

the study of the motion of bodies without reference to mass or force

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kinematics [¦kin·ə¦mad·iks]

(mechanics)

The study of the motion of a system of material particles without reference to the forces which act on the system.

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Kinematics

That branch of mechanics which deals with the motion of a system of material particles without reference to the forces which act on the system. Kinematics differs from dynamics in that the latter takes these forces into account. See Dynamics

For a single particle moving in a straight line (rectilinear motion), the motion is prescribed when the position of the particle is known as a function of the time. Plane kinematics of a particle is concerned with the specification of the position of a particle moving in a plane by means of two independent variables. The kinematics of a particle in space is concerned with the ways in which three independent coordinates may be chosen to specify the position of the particle at a given time, and with the relations between the first and second time derivatives of these coordinates and the components of velocity and acceleration of the particle.

Among the coordinate systems studied in kinematics are those used by observers who are in relative motion. In nonrelativistic kinematics the time coordinate for each such observer is assumed to be the same, but in relativistic kinematics proper account must be taken of the fact that lengths and time intervals appear different to observers moving relative to each other. See Relativity