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Mechanics is the study of the motion of matter and the forces required to cause its motion. Mechanics is based on the concepts of time, space, force, energy, and matter. A knowledge of mechanics is needed for the study of all branches of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering.
The consideration of all aspects of mechanics would be too large a task for us. Instead, in this course, we shall study only the classical mechanics of non-polar continua. (A nonpolar continuum is one whose material particles have only three translational degrees of freedom.) We shall concern ourselves with the basic principles common to fluids and solids.