A dynamic influence that causes a particle or body to accelerate. (See Newton’s laws of motion.) Commonly experienced forces are gravity, contact forces (such as friction and air resistance), forces within a body that deform or restore its shape, and electrical and magnetic forces.
In general, force is a vector quantity with a magnitude, a direction, and also a point of application. (See moment (in mechanics).) Force has the dimensions MLT−2, and the SI unit of measurement is the newton.