We add all kinds of mechanical interactions to the thermal interactions we treated in Chapter 1. (Note: the term “mechanical” as in the phase “mechanical interactions” is typically used to imply every...We add all kinds of mechanical interactions to the thermal interactions we treated in Chapter 1. (Note: the term “mechanical” as in the phase “mechanical interactions” is typically used to imply everything other than thermal). We will, however, devote some attention to one area of application that occurs frequently in many phenomena–all kinds of things vibrate, from atoms and molecules to bridges and skyscrapers; that is, they move back and forth or oscillate in very predictable ways.
