Introduction

Virtually every phenomenon in nature can be described in terms of mathematical relations among certain quantities that are responsible for the phenomenon. Most mathematical models of physical phenomena are based on fundamental scientific laws of physics that are extracted from centuries of observations and research on the behavior of mechanical systems subjected to the action of natural forces. The most exciting thing about the laws of physics, which are also termed principles of mechanics, is that they govern biological systems as well (because of mass and energy transports). However, biological systems may require additional laws, yet to be discovered, from biology and chemistry to reasonably complete their descriptions.

This chapter is devoted to the study of fundamental laws of physics and resulting mathematical models as applied to mechanical systems. The laws of physics are expressed in analytical form with the aid of the concepts and quantities introduced in the previous chapters. The principles of mechanics to be studied are (1) the principle of conservation of mass, (2) the principle of balance of linear momentum, (3) the principle of balance of angular momentum, and (4) the principle of balance of energy.