Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 3
■ ■ ■
Basic Newtonian Mechanics
P eople have been interested in the science of how objects move for thousands of years. The
ancient Greeks, men like Aristotle, were responsible for many of the early theories on the causes
of motion. Unfortunately, the ancient Greeks made a lot of mistakes. For instance, they thought
that if two objects were dropped from a height that the heavier object would reach the ground first.
During the Renaissance period, scientists like Galileo and Newton reformulated the basic
laws of motion. Using experiments and observations, they developed improved physical models
for predicting the motion of objects. They came up with the basic relationships that model the
interaction of force, mass, and acceleration. From these Sir Isaac Newton derived his famous
three laws of motion, and it's because of contributions such as this that the subject is some-
times referred to as Newtonian mechanics .
In this chapter, you will learn about the basic laws of motion. We will explore the relationship
between force, mass, and acceleration. You will learn about some different types of forces and
about the concepts of work, energy, and power. Newtonian mechanics will form the foundation of
nearly every physical model you will use in your game programming. For example, the trajec-
tory of a bullet depends on the forces that act upon the bullet during its flight. The way in which
two objects bounce off of each other after a collision or whether a car can drive around a curve
without sliding off the road are typical problems that are described by Newtonian mechanics.
Specifically, this chapter will cover the following topics:
A short biography of Sir Isaac Newton
Newton's three laws of motion
Some special types of forces—gravitational, friction, centripetal, and spring
The concept of a force vector
Force balances and force diagrams
•Work
•Energy
Power
21
Search WWH ::




Custom Search