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  • Explain how an object must be displaced for a force on it to do work.
  • Explain how relative directions of force and displacement determine whether the work done is positive, negative, or zero.

What it means to do work

The scientific definition of work differs in some ways from its everyday meaning. Certain things we think of as hard work, such as writing an exam or carrying a heavy load on level ground, are not work as defined by a scientist. The scientific definition of work reveals its relationship to energy—whenever work is done, energy is transferred.

For work, in the scientific sense, to be done, a force must be exerted and there must be motion or displacement in the direction of the force.

Formally, the work    done on a system by a constant force is defined to be the product of the component of the force in the direction of motion times the distance through which the force acts . For one-way motion in one dimension, this is expressed in equation form as

W = F d , size 12{W= lline F rline left ("cos"θ right ) lline d rline } {}

where W size 12{W} {} is work, and d size 12{d} {} is the displacement of the system. We can also write this as

W = Fd . size 12{W= ital "Fd"" cos"θ} {}

To find the work done on a system that undergoes motion that is not one-way or that is in two or three dimensions, we divide the motion into one-way one-dimensional segments and add up the work done over each segment.

What is work?

The work done on a system by a constant force is the product of the component of the force in the direction of motion times the distance through which the force acts . For one-way motion in one dimension, this is expressed in equation form as

W = Fd , size 12{W= ital "Fd"" cos"θ} {}

where W size 12{W} {} is work, F size 12{F} {} is the magnitude of the force on the system, and d size 12{d} {} is the magnitude of the displacement of the system.

Five drawings labeled a through e. In (a), a person is standing with a briefcase in his hand. The force F shown by a vector arrow pointing upwards starting from the handle of briefcase and the displacement d is equal to zero, therefore no work is done. (b) A person is walking holding the briefcase in his hand. Force vector F is in the vertical direction starting from the handle of briefcase and displacement vector d is in horizontal direction starting from the same point as vector F, therefore no work is done. (c) A briefcase is shown lowered vertically down from an electric generator. The displacement vector d points downwards and force vector F points upwards acting on the briefcase.
Examples of work. (a) A person holding a briefcase does no work on it, because there is no motion. No energy is transferred to or from the briefcase. (b) The person moving the briefcase horizontally at a constant speed does no work on it, and transfers no energy to it. (c) When the briefcase is lowered, energy is transferred out of the briefcase and into an electric generator. Here the work done on the briefcase by the generator is negative, removing energy from the briefcase, because F size 12{F} {} and d size 12{d} {} are in opposite directions.

To examine what the definition of work means, let us consider the other situations shown in [link] . The person holding the briefcase in [link] (a) does no work, for example. Here d = 0 size 12{d=0} {} , so W = 0 size 12{W=0} {} . Why is it you get tired just holding a load? The answer is that your muscles are doing work against one another, but they are doing no work on the system of interest (the “briefcase-Earth system”—see Gravitational Potential Energy for more details). There must be motion for work to be done, and there must be a component of the force in the direction of the motion. For example, the person carrying the briefcase on level ground in [link] (b) does no work on it, because the force is perpendicular to the motion, and so W = 0 size 12{W=0} {} .

In [link] (c), energy is transferred from the briefcase to a generator. There are two good ways to interpret this energy transfer. One interpretation is that the briefcase’s weight does work on the generator, giving it energy. The other interpretation is that the generator does negative work on the briefcase, thus removing energy from it. The drawing shows the latter, with the force from the generator upward on the briefcase, and the displacement downward; therefore, W size 12{W} {} is negative.

Calculating work

Work and energy have the same units. From the definition of work, we see that those units are force times distance. Thus, in SI units, work and energy are measured in newton-meters . A newton-meter is given the special name joule    (J), and 1 J = 1 N m = 1 kg m 2 /s 2 size 12{1" J"=1" N" cdot m=1" kg" cdot m rSup { size 8{2} } "/s" rSup { size 8{2} } } {} . One joule is not a large amount of energy; it would lift a small 100-gram apple a distance of about 1 meter.

Section summary

  • Work is the transfer of energy by a force acting on an object as it is displaced.
  • The work W size 12{W} {} that a force F size 12{F} {} does on an object is the product of the magnitude F size 12{F} {} of the force, times the magnitude d size 12{d} {} of the displacement,
    W = Fd . size 12{W= ital "Fd""cos"θ "." } {}
  • The SI unit for work and energy is the joule (J), where 1 J = 1 N m = 1 kg m 2 /s 2 size 12{1" J"=1" N" cdot m="1 kg" cdot m rSup { size 8{2} } "/s" rSup { size 8{2} } } {} .
  • The work done by a force is zero if the displacement is either zero or perpendicular to the force.
  • The work done is positive if the force and displacement have the same direction, and negative if they have opposite direction.

Conceptual questions

Give an example of something we think of as work in everyday circumstances that is not work in the scientific sense. Is energy transferred or changed in form in your example? If so, explain how this is accomplished without doing work.

Give an example of a situation in which there is a force and a displacement, but the force does no work. Explain why it does no work.

Describe a situation in which a force is exerted for a long time but does no work. Explain.

Problems&Exercises

How much work does a supermarket checkout attendant do on a can of soup he pushes 0.600 m horizontally with a force of 5.00 N? Express your answer in joules and kilocalories.

3 . 00  J = 7 . 17 × 10 4  kcal alignl { stack { size 12{3 "." "00"" J"={}} {} #size 12{7 "." "17" times "10" rSup { size 8{ - 4} } " kcal"} {} } } {}

A 75.0-kg person climbs stairs, gaining 2.50 meters in height. Find the work done to accomplish this task.

(a) Calculate the work done on a 1500-kg elevator car by its cable to lift it 40.0 m at constant speed, assuming friction averages 100 N. (b) What is the work done on the lift by the gravitational force in this process? (c) What is the total work done on the lift?

(a) 5 . 92 × 10 5 J size 12{5 "." "92" times "10" rSup { size 8{5} } " J"} {}

(b) 5 . 88 × 10 5 J size 12{ - 5 "." "88" times "10" rSup { size 8{5} } " J"} {}

(c) 4.00 kJ

Suppose a car travels 108 km at a speed of 30.0 m/s, and uses 2.0 gal of gasoline. Only 30% of the gasoline goes into useful work by the force that keeps the car moving at constant speed despite friction. (See [link] for the energy content of gasoline.) (a) What is the force exerted to keep the car moving at constant speed? (b) If the required force is directly proportional to speed, how many gallons will be used to drive 108 km at a speed of 28.0 m/s?

Practice Key Terms 3

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Source:  OpenStax, Abe advanced level physics. OpenStax CNX. Jul 11, 2013 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11534/1.3
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