the.com/kinematics
Describes how things move, refuses to ask why — that's physics' other department.
means The branch of mechanics that describes motion — position, velocity, acceleration — purely in terms of geometry and time, with no regard for the forces or masses causing it.
from From French cinématique, coined in the 1830s by the physicist Ampère, built from Greek kinema/kinesis, 'movement, motion' (the same root that gives 'cinema,' the moving-picture art). Ampère wanted a clean label for the science of motion considered abstractly, separate from dynamics, which deals with forces — so the word was born already dividing the two departments it describes.
- no forces allowed
- velocity and acceleration only, causes are someone else's problem
- ancient roots
- from Greek kinema, meaning movement, same root as cinema
- free fall math
- predicts a dropped ball's speed without ever mentioning gravity's cause
- used everywhere
- robotics arms and video game physics both lean on it daily