A-Z Blogging Challenge: Kinematics

Public domain image. SOURCE.

Kinematics is a branch of mechanics and is the study of the motion of bodies, regardless of their mass or the forces acting on those bodies. The fact it does not include the cause of motion (the forces) is how it differs from dynamics, which was covered under Fluid Dynamics last Friday.

The name kinematics comes from the Greek kinesis, or "motion". It was coined by André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836) in 1834, in his Essai sur la philosophie de sciences, which outlined a new field he called "cinematique".

The person considered the founder of kinematics is not Ampère, however, but Franz Reuleaux (1829-1905). He described the field as "the study of the motion of bodies of every kind . . . and the study of the geometric representation of motion". It was during his lifetime that kinematics began to take off, and he published The Kinematics of Machinery: Outlines of a Theory of Machines, where he classified different types of mechanisms. Kinematics has a more modern role in machine design, including robots, automobiles, aircraft, satellites, electronics, and prostheses.

There are two main kinds of motion in kinematics: motion with constant velocity (velocity is speed and direction) and motion with constant acceleration. Because forces behind the motion are not considered, only constrained motion--motion where objects are moving on determinate paths unaffected by forces--of objects can be described (as opposed to unconstrained motion, which is affected by forces).

Position, velocity, acceleration. Public domain image. SOURCE.

Mathematically, there are two quantities: scalars (quantities described by magnitude, or a single numerical value) and vectors (quantities described by both magnitude and direction). One-dimensional motion is motion along a straight line, and two- and three-dimensional motion can often be broken down into several one-dimensional motions.

Notable Mechanical Engineer/Kinematicist:

Mary C. Boyce

Mary C. Boyce is the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Gail E. Kendall Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She obtained a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and an S.M. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. She has been awarded the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Applied Mechanics Young Investigator Award, and the Spira Award for Teaching among others, and is a Fellow at the American Academy of Mechanics, the ASME, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Her research focuses on polymers, elastomers (polymers with elastic properties), materials with lattice structures, natural materials, macromolecular networks, and mechanical properties.

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Sources:
http://www.batesville.k12.in.us/physics/phynet/mechanics/kinematics/OneDMotion.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318099/kinematics
http://www.drphysics.com/syllabus/kinematics/kinematics.html
http://meche.mit.edu/people/index.html?id=11
http://mit.edu/pie/commission/boyce.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/kinematics
http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/what.php
http://www.solvephysics.com/problems_kinematics.shtml

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Ever heard of the field of kinematics before? (I hadn't, until I searched for something that began with "K".)


-----The Golden Eagle