Body Force

A body force is a force that acts throughout the volume of a body, in contrast to contact forces. Gravity and electromagnetic forces are examples of body forces. Centrifugal force and Coriolis force can also be viewed as body forces.

This can be put into contrast to the classical definition of surface forces which are supposed to be exerted to the surface of an object. Shear forces and normal forces occurring in physical and engineering circumstances are supposed to be surface forces and exerted to the surface of an object. All cohesive surface attraction and contact forces between objects are also considered as surface forces.