Mechanics is a branch of physics which looks at objects that are moved by forces (including other bodies, or forces of nature).
The discipline has its roots in ancient Greece where Aristotle studied the way bodies behaved when they were thrown through the air (e.g. a stone). However it was Galileo, Kepler and especially Newton who laid the foundations for much of the so-called Newtonian mechanics we know today.
Animation of Newton's cradle from Newton's book Principia Mathematica.
A person working in the discipline is known as a mechanician.
Significance
Mechanics is the original discipline of physics, dealing with the macroscopic world that humans perceive. It is therefore a huge body of knowledge about the natural world. Mechanics encompasses the movement of all matter in the universe under the four forces: gravity, the strong and weak interactions, and the electromagnetic interaction.
Mechanics also constitutes a central part of technology.
