Mechanics of Contagion: A Newtonian Approach to Epidemiological Modeling

In this article, we establish foundational concepts, relationships, and principles to motivate and propose a “Mechanics of Contagion”, particularly its dynamic component. Methodologically, we employ analogical reasoning by constructing a simile within the context of the population-level spread of pathogens, drawing on the cause-and-effect relationships found in classical mechanics, a more widely accepted theoretical corpus. Specifically, we identify the causal mechanisms governing the physical motion of rigid bodies by examining the notion of forces, which explains variations in transmission rates within the flow from susceptible (S) to infectious (I) individuals in an SI-type mathematical model. Thus, it becomes meaningful, for example, to introduce concepts such as susceptible mass, infectious momentum, or contagion force. Finally, we formulate analogs of Newton’s three laws, demonstrating some applications to highlight the conceptual gains of the proposed Newtonian framework.