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WORK ENERGY AND POWER

INTRODUCTION

Almost all terms we have used thus far--- velocity, acceleration, force and so on----
convey a similar meaning in physics as they do in everyday life. Now however, we
encounter a term whose meaning in physics is distinctly different from its everyday
meaning : “WORK”
Generally the most useful idea in whole of the science is
the concept of energy and its conservation. Energy is vital part of our daily life. In this
chapter we will define work and mechanical energy and arrive the relationship between
them. Later we will develop the work energy theorem which is the heart of this chapter.
Mainly we can describe all motions in terms of the forces
that causes them. However as we explain in this chapter the conservation of energy
greatly simplifies the description of motion in many instances. The principle of
conservation of energy is a universal concept that is important not only in mechanics
but also in other branches of physics. In order to understand the concept of work and
the basic relation between force, work and energy.
THE WORD WORK IN COMMON USAGE we already studied that changes in an object’s
MEANS PHYSICAN AND MENTAL motion depend on force and on how long the force acts. In
EXERTION. DON’T CONFUSE THE that case “HOW LONG” means does not always mean time;
PHYSICAL DEFINITION OF WORK WITH it can mean distance also. when we consider the quantity
THE EVERYDAY NOTATION OF WORK. (FORCE * DISTANCE) we are talking about an entirely
WORK IS A TRANSFER OF ENERGY. different concept---- WORK. Work is the effort exerted on
something that will change its energy.

WORK :---- As shown in figure, a man pulls a

box placed on a rough surface. If man pulls

the box with a force F, then according to
newton’s 3rd law, the box will also pull man in
opposite direction the same force F. Friction between floor surface and
surface of the box opposes the motion of box in forward direction. If F exceeds the
limiting friction, the box starts sliding. If it slides its kinetic energy increases. As we
know that the total energy of a system can not change. It can neither be created nor
be destroyed. If energy of the box is increasing, somewhere it must be decreasing. Here
we can see that only man is there who is pulling the object so we can say that he is
giving energy to it. Thus energy of man is decreasing and that of box is increasing
which increases in the form of kinetic energy of the box. If F does not exceeds the
limiting friction, no sliding occurs, hence no transfer of energy takes place. Here the
cause of energy transfer is the displacement of box. If displacement takes place energy
is transferred and if no displacement there is no transfer of energy. Thus transfer of
energy is known as “WORK” and work is said to be done if and only when the applied
force produces some displacement.
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Whenever a force is applied to an object,
it is ready to do work but work will be do ne only if displaces the object. In work always
at least two bodies are involved, one who is doing work(whose energy is decreasing)
and the other on which work is being done(whose energy is increasing).
If a man punches a hard wall, the energy is
wishes to transfer to wall (to do work on
wall), is reflected back on his hand and he
will be injured as no displacement takes
place on wall. If the man makes his punch
strong enough tr break the wall as shown
his hand will not be injured, the reason
is utilization of energy by the wall. As the wall breaks displacement is produced by the
force of his punch, hence energy is transferred to the wall and negligible amount of
energy is reflected.
The concept of work is now clear that it is just the transfer of
energy due to the displacement produced by the
applied force. How much work we do depends
on both level as to how hard we push and how
far we move the object.in physical sciences the
meaning of work is more precise and restricted.
If we exert a constant force F on an object, causing
it to move a distance parallel to F, then the work
W done by the force is defined to be the product of the magnitude of the force times
the distance through which it acts as the objects is moved.

There are two conditions in the definition of work

1st the force must be exerted on the object
through a distance ie; in other words the force
must be move the object. 2nd for work to be done
the force must have a component parallel to the direction of motion. If an applied
force is not along the direction pf motion we can resolve it into it two components
parallel to and perpendicular to the displacement as shown. Only the component of
force that is parallel to the displacement contributes the work (here Fcosθ).

W = Fxcosθ
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CAUTION Work ∙ W, weight ∙ w Don’t confuse uppercase W (work) with lowercase w (weight). Though
the symbols are similar, work and weight are different quantities.

WORK DONE BY A FORCE:---

 WHEN A FORCE ACTS AT SOME ANGLE TO THE DIRECTION OF MOTION OF BODY

If the person pushes at an angle Ø to the car’s displacement? Then F has a

component F||= FcosØ in the direction of the displacement S and a component F┴=
FsinØ that acts perpendicular to S. (Other forces must act on the car so that it
moves along S, not
in the direction of F. We’re interested in only the work that the person does,
however, so we’ll consider only the force he exerts.) Only the parallel component F||
is effective in moving the car, so we define the work as the product of this force
component and the magnitude of the displacement. Hence W = F||S = (FcosØ)S, or

If Ø= 0, so that F and S are in the same direction, then cosØ= 1 and we will get (
W=F*S) the form of scaler product of two vectors that is

NOTE :---
 Thus work done is the dot or scalar product of force and displacement
vector. Hence work is a scalar quantity.
 Since the body has no motion along upward or downward direction so no
work is done by the component FsinØ.
 We can calculate work done by a force on a object but the force is not
necessarily the cause of the object displacement.
 Work is defined for an interval or displacement. There is no term such as
instantaneous work similar to instantaneous velocity.
 For a particular displacement, the work done by a force is independent of
the type of motion i.e; whether it moves with constant velocity, constant
acceleration or retardation etc.
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 For a particular displacement work is independent on time. Work will be
same for all displacement whether the time taken is small or large.
 When several forces act, the work done by a force for a particular
displacement is independent of other forces.
Cautions. There are two restrictions to calculate work done on an object by a force.
First, the force must be a constant force; that is, it must not change in magnitude or
direction as the object moves. (Later, we shall discuss what to do with a variable force
that changes in magnitude.) Second, the object must be particle-like. This means that
the object must be rigid; all parts of it must move together, in the same direction (as
shown).
 DIMENSION AND UNIT OF WORK:---
 Dimension of work:----[ML2T-2]
 UNIT OF WORK ARE OF TWO TYPES
A. ABSOLUTE UNIT OF WORK:--- work is said to be absolute unit of work if the
absolute unit of force displaces the body through unit distance in the
direction of force.
 SI UNIT:--- N-m=1J [ work is said to be 1J if a force of 1N
displaces the body through 1m in the direction of force.]
 CGS UNIT:--- dyne-cm=1erg [ work is said to be 1erg if a force
of 1dyne displaces the body through 1cm in the direction of
force.]
 1J = 107 erg
B. GRAVITATIONAL UNIT OF WORK:--- work is said to be gravitational unit of
work if the gravitational unit of force displaces the body through unit distance
in the direction of force.
 SI UNIT:--- 1kg-wt *m= 9.8N-m=9.8J [ work is said to be of
one kilogram metre if a force 1kg-wt displaces the body
through 1m in the direction of applied force]
 CGS UNIT:--- 1gm-wt * cm=980dyne-cm= 980 erg [ work is
said to be of one gram centimetre if a force 1gm-wt displaces
the body through 1cm in the direction of applied force]
 NATURE OF WORK DONE

NATURE OF WORK DONE

Positive work NEGATIVE WORK UNDER THREE CONDITIONS WORK

DONE BECOMES ZERO
0◦≤θ<90◦ 90◦<θ≤180◦

POSITIVE WORK
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1. when a body falls freely from certain height
work done by the gravity is positive.(θ/Ø=0◦)
2. When a person lifts body from the ground
work done by the lifting force is positive.
(θ/Ø=0◦)
3. When a spring is stretched work by the external
force is positive. (θ/Ø=0◦)

NOTE: POSITIVE WORK DONE MEANS ENERGY IS PROVIED ON THE SYSTEM.

NEGATIVE WORK

1. when a person lift a body from the ground the

wok done by the force of gravity is negative
(θ/Ø=180◦)
2. when a body is made to slide over a rough surface
the work done by the frictional frictional force is
negative (θ/Ø=0◦)
NOTE: NEGATIVE WORK DONE MEANS ENERGY IS EXTRATED FROM THE SYSTEM.
ZERO WORK DONE

1. If there is no force acting on the body (F=0) [example: motion of an isolated body in free
space]
2. If there is no displacement on the body (S=0)
[ example: when a person tries to displace a wall
or heavy stone by applying force and it does not move]
3. When a collie moves over a horizontal surface with a
Weight on his head does no work(θ=90◦)
4. When a body moves in a circle the work by centripetal
force is zero. (θ=90◦)
5. Tension in the string of a simple pendulum is always
perpendicular to the displacement of bob so work
done is zero(θ=90◦)