Work

Work has a specific definition in physics. Work is done when a force is exerted on an object, and the
object moves from one place to another. Work is the result of a force, acting over a certain distance.
This distance is called the displacement of the object. If the force F, and the displacement d, are in the
same direction, then the work W is given by the formula,

W = Fd

The work is the product of the force and the displacement. In SI (international system) units, the unit of
force is the Newton (N), and the unit of distance or displacement is the meter (m). Therefore, the unit of
work can be expressed as a Newton-meter, N∙m. This is also known as a Joule, J. The Newton is a
compound unit, and so a Joule is also equal to.

The equation W = Fd depends on the force and the displacement being in the same direction. There are
many situations in which their directions are different, for example, a person pushing on a box close to
the ground. A component of the force the person applies is directed down, even though the resulting
direction of the box is forward. In a case like this, only the component of the force that is along the path
of the box's displacement contributes to the work done. If we treat the force and the displacement as
vectors, the work can be found by using the dot product (also known as the scalar product). The work is
equal to,

In this formula, θ is the angle between the force and displacement vectors, and F and d are the
magnitudes of the vectors.

Energy

The kinetic energy (K) of an object is equal to the amount of work that is required to accelerate the
object from rest to a certain velocity, v. This relationship between kinetic energy and work is called the
work-energy theorem. The kinetic energy of an object is a scalar value, meaning it does not depend on
the direction the object moves in. The value of kinetic energy is always positive or zero. The unit of
kinetic energy is the same as the unit of work, the Joule (J).
The kinetic energy of an object can be related to its mass and velocity with the formula,

This formula for kinetic energy can be found from the equation for work, if the force is in the same
direction as the object's displacement. This formula depends on the kinematic formula,

The change in position, (x - x0), is equal to the displacement magnitude, d. The formula can be
rearranged to isolate for the acceleration, a,

Force is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by its acceleration, so the force is,

F = ma

This formula for force can be substituted in to the formula for work,

W = Fd

The constant k in this equation is the spring constant, which is different for every spring. The spring
constant has units Newtons per meter, N/m. The work required to pull the spring from any starting
position x1 to a final position x2 is,

Power

Power is a rate of doing work. It is a measure of how quickly work is done. For a quantity of work W that
is done in an amount of time t, the power done is,

The unit for power is the Watt (W), which is equal to a Joule per second,

1 W=1 J/s

Power can also be expressed in as force F times velocity v. Since work is given by force times distance, W
= Fd, and velocity is distance divided by time, v = d/t, then power is,

P=Fv
EXAMPLE:

A person is also a machine that has a power rating. Some people are more power-full than others. That
is, some people are capable of doing the same amount of work in less time or more work in the same
amount of time. A common physics lab involves quickly climbing a flight of stairs and using mass, height
and time information to determine a student's personal power. Despite the diagonal motion along the
staircase, it is often assumed that the horizontal motion is constant and all the force from the steps is
used to elevate the student upward at a constant speed. Thus, the weight of the student is equal to the
force that does the work on the student and the height of the staircase is the upward displacement.
Suppose that Ben Pumpiniron elevates his 80-kg body up the 2.0-meter stairwell in 1.8 seconds. If this
were the case, then we could calculate Ben's power rating. It can be assumed that Ben must apply an
800-Newton downward force upon the stairs to elevate his body. By so doing, the stairs would push
upward on Ben's body with just enough force to lift his body up the stairs. It can also be assumed that
the angle between the force of the stairs on Ben and Ben's displacement is 0 degrees. With these two
approximations, Ben's power rating could be determined as shown below.

Ben's power rating is 871 Watts. He is quite a horse.

Check Your Understanding

Use your understanding of work and power to answer the following questions. When finished, click the
button to view the answers.

1. Two physics students, Will N. Andable and Ben Pumpiniron, are in the weightlifting room. Will lifts the
100-pound barbell over his head 10 times in one minute; Ben lifts the 100-pound barbell over his head
10 times in 10 seconds. Which student does the most work? ______________ Which student delivers
the most power? ______________ Explain your answers.

ANSWER:
Ben and Will do the same amount of work. They apply the same force to lift the same barbell the same
distance above their heads.

Yet, Ben is the most "power-full" since he does the same work in less time. Power and time are inversely
proportional.

2. A tired squirrel (mass of approximately 1 kg) does push-ups by applying a force to elevate its center-
of-mass by 5 cm in order to do a mere 0.50 Joule of work. If the tired squirrel does all this work in 2
seconds, then determine its power.

ANSWER:

The tired squirrel does 0.50 Joule of work in 2.0 seconds. The power rating of this squirrel is found by

P = W / t = (0.50 J) / (2.0 s) = 0.25 Watts

3. When doing a chin-up, a physics student lifts her 42.0-kg body a distance of 0.25 meters in 2 seconds.
What is the power delivered by the student's biceps?

ANSWER

To raise her body upward at a constant speed, the student must apply a force which is equal to her
weight (m•g). The work done to lift her body is

W = F * d = (411.6 N) * (0.250 m)

W = 102.9 J

The power is the work/time ratio which is (102.9 J) / (2 seconds) = 51.5 Watts (rounded)ER: