# 2d soft body physics mathematics [duplicate]

Possible Duplicates:
Modern references for continuum mechanics
Good books on elasticity

The definition of rigid body in Box2d is

A chunk of matter that is so strong that the distance between any two bits of matter on the chunk is completely constant.

And this is exactly what i don't want as i would like to make 2D (maybe 3D eventually), elastic, deformable, breakable, and even sticky bodies.

What I'm hoping to get out of this community are resources that teach me the math behind how objects bend, break and interact. I don't care about the molecular or chemical properties of these objects, and often this is all I find when I try to search for how to calculate what a piece of wood, metal, rubber, goo, liquid, organic material, etc. might look like after a force is applied to it.

Also, I'm a very visual person, so diagrams and such are EXTREMELY HELPFUL for me.

-

## migrated from math.stackexchange.comSep 18 '11 at 5:23

This question came from our site for people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields.

## marked as duplicate by David Z♦Sep 18 '11 at 5:34

Your question is very general. You could start here but I think this question would be better on physics.SE. –  IAmBrianDawkins Sep 18 '11 at 5:11
Indeed, this is a very broad question and it seems that you're asking basically the same thing as a couple of prior questions about elasticity and continuum mechanics, so I'm going to close this as a duplicate. If you're actually asking for something different, though, you can edit the question to clarify that and I can reopen it. Feel free to ask for advice in Physics Chat. –  David Z Sep 18 '11 at 5:33

The subject you're looking for is called continuum mechanics. This is the physics of deformable media.

There's a list of textbooks here:

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2687/modern-references-for-continuum-mechanics

-

If it is rigid, it is rigid. It doesn't matter what it is made of. If a force is applied, it moves. Newton's law $f=ma$ applies. If the force is off center, you get a torque, and $N=I\frac{d\omega}{dt}$ applies.

-
did you read my question...... the materials aren't rigid –  Griffin Sep 18 '11 at 5:16

You might start out with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_elasticity and references from there.

-