All phenomena in nature are characterized by motion; this is an
essential property of matter, having infinitely many aspects. Motion can
be mechanical, physical, chemical or biological, leading to various
sciences of nature, mechanics being one of them. Mechanics deals with
the objective laws of mechanical motion of bodies, the simplest form of
motion.
In the study of a science of nature mathematics plays an important rôle.
Mechanics is the first science of nature which was expressed in terms of
mathematics by considering various mathematical models, associated to
phenomena of the surrounding nature. Thus, its development was
influenced by the use of a strong mathematical tool; on the other hand,
we must observe that mechanics also influenced the introduction and the
development of many mathematical notions.
In this respect, the guideline of the present book is precisely the
mathematical model of mechanics. A special accent is put on the solving
methodology as well as on the mathematical tools used; vectors, tensors
and notions of field theory. Continuous and discontinuous phenomena,
various mechanical magnitudes are presented in a unitary form by means
of the theory of distributions. Some appendices give the book an
autonomy with respect to other works, special previous mathematical
knowledge being not necessary.
Some applications connected to important phenomena of nature are
presented, and this also gives one the possibility to solve problems of
interest from the technical, engineering point of view. In this form,
the book becomes - we dare say - a unique outline of the literature in
the field; the author wishes to present the most important aspects
connected with the study of mechanical systems, mechanics being regarded
as a science of nature, as well as its links to other sciences of
nature. Implications in technical sciences are not neglected.
