Talk:Virtual displacement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The main idea of virtual displacement is that it is arbitrary, or even imaginary. For practical application to actual physical system we usually consider only virtual displacements that meet the physical constraints; however, for generality, constraints should not be part of the definition of virtual displacements.
Hmm, well the way I see it, if virtual displacements are only ever really discussed in the context of constrained systems, then to say that they are really more general is merely a philosophy. I'd say that they're only imaginary in the sense that energy is imaginary or action is imaginary. Both are man-made constructs. Also, if virtual displacements really are completely arbitrary, what distinguishes them from plain ol' displacements? - Miles
