Virtual displacement

In analytical mechanics, a branch of applied mathematics and physics, a virtual displacement (or infinitesimal variation) shows how the mechanical system's trajectory can hypothetically (hence the term virtual) deviate very slightly from the actual trajectory of the system without violating the system's constraints. For every time instant is a vector tangential to the configuration space at the point The vectors show the directions in which can "go" without breaking the constraints.

Virtual displacement

In analytical mechanics, a branch of applied mathematics and physics, a virtual displacement (or infinitesimal variation) shows how the mechanical system's trajectory can hypothetically (hence the term virtual) deviate very slightly from the actual trajectory of the system without violating the system's constraints. For every time instant is a vector tangential to the configuration space at the point The vectors show the directions in which can "go" without breaking the constraints.