Editing Statics (section)

===Force===
''[[Force]]'' is the action of one body on another. A force is either a push or a pull, and it tends to move a body in the direction of its action. The action of a force is characterized by its magnitude, by the direction of its action, and by its ''point of application'' (or ''point of contact''). Thus, force is a vector quantity, because its effect depends on the direction as well as on the magnitude of the action.<ref>Meriam, James L., and L. Glenn Kraige. ''Engineering Mechanics'' (6th ed.)  Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2007; p. 23.</ref>

Forces are classified as either contact or body forces. A [[contact force]] is produced by direct physical contact; an example is the force exerted on a body by a supporting surface. A [[body force]] is generated by virtue of the position of a body within a [[force field (physics)|force field]] such as a gravitational, electric, or magnetic field and is independent of contact with any other body; an example of a body force is the weight of a body in the Earth's gravitational field.<ref>''Engineering Mechanics'', p. 24</ref>