Philosophers in antiquity used the concept of force in the study of stationary and moving objects and simple machines, but … See more

Since antiquity the concept of force has been recognized as integral to the functioning of each of the simple machines. The mechanical advantage given by a simple machine allowed for less force to be used in exc… See more

Sir Isaac Newton described the motion of all objects using the concepts of inertia and force. In 1687, Newton published his magnum opus, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In this work Newton set out thre… See more

Forces act in a particular direction and have sizes dependent upon how strong the push or pull is. Because of these characteristics, forces are classified as "vector quantities". This means that forces follow a different set of mathem… See more

Some forces are consequences of the fundamental ones. In such situations, idealized models can be used to gain physical insight. For example, each solid object is considered a rigid body.
What we n… See more

Forces that cause extended objects to rotate are associated with torques. Mathematically, the torque of a force is defined relative to an arbitrary reference point as the cross product:
Torque is t… See more