That is better given one is more comfortable with mechanical systems. Since my field is EE, I tend to do the opposite: translate a problem to the electrical dom

That is better given one is more comfortable with mechanical systems. Since my field is EE, I tend to do the opposite: translate a problem to the electrical domain to be more intuitive about it. You can use Bond graphs[1] to easily translate between different domains (Mechanical translation,Mechanical rotation, Electromagnetic, Hydraulic and Thermic in a more limited way). This technique generalises force and voltage to "Effort" and velocity and current to "Flow". [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_graph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_graph