Kinetics is the specialty of physics that analyzes movement.
Before proceeding to determine the meaning of the term kinetics , we are going to discover its etymological origin. Specifically, it derives from Greek, exactly it is the result of the sum of these two components:
-The noun "kinesis", which can be translated as "movement".
-The suffix «-tikos» or «-tika», which is used to indicate «relative to».
What is kinetics
The idea of kinetics has several uses. In the field of physics , it is used to refer to that linked to movement .
Specifically, kinetics or kinematics is the specialty of physics focused on the analysis of movement, leaving aside the study of the forces that cause it. Kinetics, in this framework, usually studies the trajectory of a moving body as a function of time.
Acceleration and speed
Acceleration and velocity are the most common quantities with which kinetics works. These data allow the description of changes in body position as time passes.
The speed is calculated by dividing the space traveled and the time taken: if an object traveled two hundred kilometers in two hours, its average speed is 100 kilometers per hour. Acceleration, for its part, is obtained by dividing the change in speed and the time it was used.
Wind energy is based on the kinetic energy produced by the wind.
Enzyme kinetics
In the same way, we cannot ignore the existence of what is known as enzyme kinetics. This is a term that is used to refer to the discipline that comes to study the speed of chemical reactions that have the particularity of being catalyzed by enzymes.
Specifically, it is capable of offering important data on the specificity of the enzyme in question and also on the mechanism of the so-called catalytic reaction. In this type of discipline, terms and concepts such as the reaction progression curve, the initial reaction speed or the effect of the initial concentration, among others, gain special relevance.
Within enzyme kinetics we have to establish that what is known as Michaelis Menten kinetics, also known as the general theory of enzymes, is very important. This is an idea proposed by Michaelis and Maunt Menten at the beginning of the 20th century, specifically in 1903. The idea was that enzymes modify themselves with their substrate in order to form a complex.
The energy linked to movement
Kinetic energy , on the other hand, is the energy that a body has from its movement.
When a body is at rest, a certain amount of work is required to accelerate it to a certain speed. That energy obtained in acceleration is conserved by the body as kinetic energy until its speed changes.
Chemical kinetics
For chemistry , on the other hand, kinetics is the analysis of the speed with which different processes develop.
Known as chemical kinetics , it focuses on how quickly reactions take place.