- Translation (physics)
In
physics , translation is movement that changes the position of an object, as opposed torotation . For example, according to Whittaker:cite book |title=A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies |author=Edmund Taylor Whittaker |isbn=0521358833 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=epH1hCB7N2MC&pg=PA4&dq=rigid+bodies+translation&lr=&as_brr=0&sig=ACfU3U35vNtLy6utF2QKzYa82mGSyp_jYw#PPA1,M1 |edition=Reprint of fourth edition of 1936 with foreword by William McCrea |page=p. 1]A translation is the operation changing the positions of all points "(x, y, z)" of an object according to the formula
:x,y,z) o (x+Delta x,y+Delta y, z+Delta z)
where Delta x, Delta y, Delta z) is the same
vector for each point of the object. The translation vector Delta x, Delta y, Delta z) common to all points of the object describes a particular type of displacement of the object, usually called a "linear" displacement to distinguish it from displacements involving rotation, called "angular" displacements.A translation of space (or time) should not be confused with a translation of an object. Such translations have no fixed points.
References and notes
ee also
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Translation (geometry)
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