cinématique

Cinématique is a branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of rigid bodies and particles without considering the forces that cause that motion. It focuses on the geometry of motion, dealing with concepts such as position, displacement, velocity, and acceleration. In essence, cinématique answers the question "how does something move?" rather than "why does it move?".

The fundamental quantities in cinématique include position, which describes the location of an object in space, and displacement, which is the change in position. Velocity is the rate of change of displacement with respect to time, and acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time. These quantities are often represented as vectors, acknowledging that both magnitude and direction are important in describing motion.

Key tools in cinématique include kinematic equations, which are a set of formulas that relate displacement, velocity, acceleration, and time for objects undergoing constant acceleration. These equations allow for the prediction of an object's future motion given its initial conditions. For more complex scenarios, calculus is employed to analyze motion that is not uniformly accelerated.

Cinématique serves as a foundational concept for other areas of physics, including dynamics, which introduces the role of forces in motion. It is also applied in various fields such as engineering, robotics, and animation to understand and predict how objects will move.