Statics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The area of physics focused on objects that are not in motion examines the balance of forces on stationary entities and their resultant effects
2. A discipline within mechanics dedicated to understanding forces impacting bodies at rest analyzes how these forces maintain equilibrium within static systems
3. The branch of physics that investigates how forces act on objects when they are at rest and how these forces keep the objects stable

Etymology: Ancient Greeks had a word for the art of weighing: "statikē," from "statikos," meaning "causing to stand" or "making things stand still." It came from "histanai," to cause to stand, which is also the source of "stasis." The Greek term named the study of balances and levers, the science of things held in equilibrium rather than moving. English took the term from New Latin "statica," a scholarly coinage used when natural philosophers were organising mechanics into separate branches. Like "physics" and "mechanics," it ends in "-ics," a Greek-derived pattern for names of sciences. That ending looks plural, but "statics" is treated as singular: "statics is the study of forces in balance."

Synonyms: mechanics, equilibrium