WORK AND ENERGY

Iliana Santiago-Rivera
DEFINITION OF WORK

¡ The term work means to do something that takes

physical or mental effort.
¡ But in physics, work has a distinctly different meaning
¡ A student holds a heavy chair at arm’s length for several
minutes.
¡ A student carries a bucket of water along a horizontal path
while walking at constant velocity.
WORK

¡ If you push the car with a constant horizontal force, the work you do on
the car is equal to the magnitude of the force, F, times the magnitude of
the displacement of the car.
¡ Using the symbol d instead of ∆𝑥 for displacement, we define work for a
constant force as:

𝑊 = 𝐹𝑑
WORK

¡ Work is not done on an object unless the object is

moved with the action of a force.
¡ The application of a force alone does not constitute
work.
¡ For this reason, no work is done on the chair when a
student holds the chair at arm’s length.
¡ Even through the student exerts a force to support
the chair, the chair does not move.
WORK

¡ Work is done only when components of a force are parallel to

a displacement.
¡ When the force on an object and the object’s displacement are in
different directions, only the component of the force that is parallel to
the object’s displacement does work.

¡ Components of the force perpendicular to a displacement do not do

work.
WORK

𝑊 = 𝐹𝑑𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
Work has a unit of newton’s times meter
(N x m), or joules J
Work done by a constant force acting on an
object whose displacement is :

Work can be positive, negative, or zero.

Slide 8
SAMPLE PROBLEM

¡ How much work is done on a vacuum cleaner pulled 3.0 m by a force

of 50.0 N at an angle of 30.0 above the horizontal?
PRACTICE

¡ A hockey player uses a stick to exert a constant 4.50 N force forward to a 105 g puck sliding on ice
over a displacement of 0.150m forward. How much work does the stick do on the puck? Assume
friction is negligible.
 PROBLEM #1

How much work must Denise do to drag her basket of laundry of mass 5.0 kg a distance
of 5.0 m along a floor, if the force she exerts in a constant 30.0 N at an angle of 60.0° with
the horizontal?
PROBLEM #2

A sled is dragged along a horizontal path at a constant speed of 1.5 m/s by a rope that is
inclined at an angle of 30.0° with respect to the horizontal. The total weight of the sled is
470 N. The tension in the rope is 240 N. How much work is done by the rope on the
sled in a time interval of 10.0s?
PROBLEM #3

¡ Juana slides a crate along the floor of the moving van. The coefficient of kinetic
friction between the crate and the van floor is 0.120. The crate has a mass of 56.8 kg
and Juana pushes with a horizontal force of 124N. If 74.4J of total work are done on
the crate, how far along the van floor does it move?
WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

The normal force does no work when it is perpendicular to

the displacement.

Slide 14
WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

The tension in the string of a pendulum is always

perpendicular to the velocity of the pendulum bob, so the
string does no work on the bob.

Slide 15
 WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

No matter where a satellite is in its circular orbit, it

experiences a gravitational force directed toward the
center of the Earth. This force is always perpendicular to
the satellite’s velocity; thus, gravity does no work on the
satellite.
Slide 16
 WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

In an elliptical orbit, the gravitational force is not always

perpendicular to the velocity. As the satellite moves
counterclockwise in its orbit from point P to point A ,
gravity does negative work; from A to P , gravity does
positive work.
Slide 17
Energy

Energy is defined as the ability to do work –

which, for biology purposes, can be thought of
as the ability to cause some kind of change.
Energy can take many different forms: for
instance, we’re all familiar with light, heat, and
electrical energy.
The energy associated with an object’s motion
is called kinetic energy.
Potential energy is the energy associated
with an object because of its position or
structure.
ENERGY

¡ Kinetic energy is energy associated with an object in motion.

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝐹∆𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎∆𝑥

ENERGY

¡ When you studied one-dimensional motion, you learned that the following relationship holds when an object
undergoes constant acceleration:
V f2 = Vi 2 + 2aDx
V f2 - Vi 2
aDx =
2
¡ Substituting this result into the equation 𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎∆𝑥
æ V f2 - Vi 2 ö
Wnet = mç ÷
ç 2 ÷
è ø
1 2 1 2
Wnet = mv f - mvi
2 2
ENERGY

¡ Kinetic energy depends on speed and mass

¡ The kinetic energy of an object with mass and speed, when treated as a
particle.

1 2
KE = mv
2
¡ Kinetic energy is a scalar quantity, and SI unit for kinetic energy is the
joule.
SAMPLE PROBLEM
¡ A 7.00 kg bowling ball moves at 3.00 m/s. How fast must a 2.45g table-tennis ball move
in order to have the same kinetic energy as the bowling ball? Is this speed reasonable
for a table-tennis ball in play?
¡ Two bullets have masses of 3.0 g and 6.0 g respectively. Both are fired with a speed of
40.0 m/s. Which bullets has more kinetic energy? What is the ratio of their kinetic
energies?
¡ Two 3.0 g bullets are fired with speeds of 40.0 m/s and 80.0 m/s, respectively. What
are their kinetic energy? What is the ratio of their kinetic energies?
WORK-KINETIC

¡ The net work done by all the forces acting on an object is

equal to the change in the object’s kinetic energy.

WORK-KINETIC ENERGY THEOREM

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = ∆𝐾𝐸

net work = change in kinetic energy

WORK-KINETIC

¡ When you use this theorem, you must include all the forces that do work on the object in calculating

the net work done.

¡ From this theorem , we see that the speed of the object increases if the net work done on it is positive,

because the final kinetic energy is greater than the initial kinetic energy,

¡ The object’s speed decreases if the net work is negative, because the final kinetic energy is less than the

initial kinetic energy.

WORK-KINETIC
• The work-kinetic energy theorem allows us to think of kinetic
energy as the work that an object can do while the object changes
speed or as the amount of energy stored in the motion of an object.
SAMPLE PROBLEM
¡ On a frozen pond, a person kicks a 10.0 kg sled, giving it an initial speed of 2.2 m/s.
How far does the sled move if the coefficient of kinetic friction between the sled
and the ice is 0.10?
PRACTICE

¡ A student wearing frictionless in-line skates on a horizontal surface is pushed by a

friend with a constant force of 45 N. How far must the student be pushed, starting
from rest so that her final kinetic energy is 352 J.
PRACTICE

¡ A 2.0 x 103 kg car accelerates from rest under the actions of two forces. One is a forward force of
1140 N provided by traction between the wheels and the road. The other is 950 N a resistive force
due to various frictional forces. Use the work kinetic theorem to determine how far the car must
travel for its speed to reach 2.0 m/s.
PRACTICE

¡ A 75 kg bobsled is pushed along a horizontal surface by two athletes. After the bobsled is pushed a
distance of 4.5 m starting from rest, its speed is 6.0 m/s. Find the magnitude of the net force on the
bobsled.
 POTENTIAL ENERGY

• Potential energy is associated with an

object that has the potential to move
because of its position relative to some
other location.

• Unlike kinetic energy, potential energy

depends not only on the properties of an
object but also on the object’s interaction
with its environment.
POTENTIAL ENERGY

• Gravitational potential energy depends on

height from a zero level

• The energy associated with an object due

to the object’s position relative to a
gravitational source is called
gravitational potential energy.
POTENTIAL ENERGY
• Imagine an egg falling off a table. As it falls, it gains
kinetic energy .

• But where does the egg’s kinetic energy come

from?

• It comes from the gravitational potential energy

that is associated with the egg’s initial position on
the table relative to the floor
POTENTIAL ENERGY

GRAVITATIONAL
¡ Gravitational potential POTENTIAL
energy can ENERGY
be determined using the following
equation: PEg = mgh
gravitational potential energy = mass x free-fall acceleration x height
POTENTIAL ENERGY
• The SI unit for gravitational potential energy, like for
kinetic energy, is the joule.

• Note that the definition for gravitational potential

energy is valid only when the free-fall acceleration is
constant over the entire height, such as at any point
near the Earth’s surface.

• Furthermore, gravitational potential energy depends on

both the height and the free-fall acceleration, neither of
which is a property of an object.
POTENTIAL ENERGY

¡ Also note that the height, h, is measured from an arbitrary zero level.

¡ In the example of the egg, if the floor is the zero level, then h is the height
of the table, and mgh is the gravitational potential energy relative to the
floor.

¡ Alternatively, if the table is the zero level, then h is zero. Thus, the potential
energy associated with the egg relative to the table is zero.
 POTENTIAL ENERGY
¡ Gravitational potential energy is a result of an object’s position, so it must be measured
relative to some zero level.

¡ The zero level is the vertical coordinate at which gravitational potential energy is
defined to be zero.

¡ This zero level is arbitrary, and it is chosen to make a specific problem easier to solve.

¡ In many cases, the statement of the problem suggests what to use as a zero level.
PRACTICE

¡ A spoon is raised 21.0 cm above a table. If the spoon and its contents have a mass of
30.0 g what is the gravitational potential energy associated with the spoon at that
height relative to the surface of the table?
PRACTICE

¡ 1. Roger Federer’s tennis ball has a mass of 0.3 kg. If he holds the ball above the
ground at a height of 2.0 m to serve, what is its gravitational potential energy (GPE)?

¡ 2. Determine the gain in the potential energy when a 4.0 kg rock is raised 18.000 m.
PRACTICE

¡ 3. A leopard with a mass of 55.00 kg climbs 12.0 m up a tree. What is its gain in GPE?

¡ 4. An aircraft is taking a group of skydivers up into the air. Evan is dressed in his parachuting outfit, which brings
his mass to a total of 90.0 kg. The aircraft takes the group to a height of 5000.00 m before the jump. How much
GPE does Evan gain before jumping?
 PRACTICE

5. An owl has a mass of 4.00 kg. It dives to catch a mouse, losing 800.00 J of its GPE. What was the starting
height of the owl, in meters?

6. An astronaut with a mass of 110.0 kg visits the moon (which has a different gravitational force than Earth).
The astronaut climbs 5.0 m up the ladder into his spacecraft and gains 880.0 J in GPE. What is the strength of
gravity on the moon?
 CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
¡ When we say that something is conserved, we mean that it remains
constant.
¡ If we have a certain amount of a conserved quantity at some instant of
time, we will have the same amount of that quantity at a later time.
¡ An example of a conserved quantity that you are already familiar with
mass.
¡ For instance, imagine that a light bulb is dropped on the floor and shatters
into many pieces.
¡ No matter how the bulb shatters, the total mass of all of the pieces
together is the same as the mass of the intact light bulb because mass is
conserved.
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

¡ The description of the motion of many objects, however, often involves a

combination of kinetic and potential energy as well as different forms of
potential energy.

¡ Situation involving a combination of these different forms of energy can

often be analyzed simply.

¡ For example, consider the motion of the different parts of a pendulum clock.
 MECHANICAL ENERGY
• The pendulum swings back and forth.
• At the highest point of its swing, there is only
gravitational potential energy associated with its
position.
• At other points in its swing, the pendulum is in
motion, so it has kinetic energy as well.
• Elastic potential energy is also present in the many
springs that are part of the inner workings of the
clock.
MECHANICAL ENERGY

The sum of kinetic energy and all forms of potential energy.

𝑀𝐸 = 𝐾𝐸 + ⅀PE
MECHANICAL ENERGY
Energy

Mechanical Nonmechanical

Kinetic Potential

Gravitational Elastic
MECHANICAL ENERGY IS OFTEN
CONSERVED

¡ In the absence of friction, the total mechanical energy remains the

same.

¡ This principle is called conservation of mechanical energy.

¡ Although the amount of mechanical energy is constant, mechanical

energy itself can change form.
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

CONSERVATION OF MECHANICAL ENERGY

MEi = Mef
initial mechanical energy = final mechanical energy
(in absence of friction)
 CONSERVATION OF MECHANICAL ENERGY

¡ The mathematical expression for the conservation of mechanical energy depends on

the forms of potential energy in a given problem.
¡ For instance, if the only force acting on an object is the force of gravity, the
conservation law can be written as follows:

! !
m𝑣#" + mgℎ# = m𝑣$" + mgℎ$
" "
 MECHANICAL ENERGY

¡ Mechanical energy is not conserved in the presence of friction.

¡ If you have ever used a sanding block to sand a rough surface, you may have noticed that you
had to keep applying a force to keep the block moving.
¡ The reason is that kinetic friction between the moving block and the surface causes the
kinetic energy of the block to be converted into a nonmechanical form of energy.
¡ As you continue to exert a force on the block, you are replacing the kinetic energy that is lost
because of kinetic friction.
¡ The observable result of this energy dissipation is that the sanding block and the tabletop
become warmer.
 MECHANICAL ENERGY

¡ In the presence of kinetic friction, nonmechanical energy is no longer

negligible and mechanical energy is no longer conserved.

¡ This does not mean that energy in general is not conserved-total energy is
always conserved.

¡ However, the mechanical energy is converted into forms of energy that are
much more difficult to account for, and the mechanical energy is therefore
considered to be “lost”.
SAMPLE PROBLEM

¡ Starting from rest, a child zooms down a frictionless slide from an initial height of
3.00m. What is her speed at the bottom of the slide? Assume she has a mass of
25.0kg.
PRACTICE
¡ A bird is flying with a speed of 18.0 m/s over water when it accidentally drop a 2.00
kg fish. If the altitude of the bird is 5.40 m and friction is disregarded what is the
speed of the fish when it hits the water?
PRACTICE

¡ A 755 N diver drops from a board 10.0 m above the water’s surface. Find the diver’s
speed 5.00 m above the water’s surface. Then find the diver’s speed just before
striking the water.
PRACTICE

An Olympic runner leaps over a hurdle. If the runner’s initial vertical speed is 2.2 m/s,
how much will the runner’s center of mass be raised during the jump?
PRACTICE

¡ A pendulum bob is released from some initial height such that the speed of the bob
at the bottom of the swing is 1.9 m/s. What is the initial height of the bob?
EXAMPLE 6.6
¡ A ski trail makes a vertical descent of 78m. A novice skier, unable to control his
speed, skis down his trail and is lucky enough not to hit ant trees. What is his speed
at the bottom of the trail, ignoring friction and air resistance?
 HOOKE’S LAW

¡ The displacement of the bowstring is proportional to the force exerted by the archer.
¡ Robert Hooke observed that, for many objects, the deformation – change in size or shape – of the object
is proportional to the magnitude of the force that causes the deformation.
¡ The spring constant is a measure of how hard it is to stretch or compress a spring
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY
¡ Imagine you are playing with a spring on a table. You push a block into the spring,
compressing the spring, and then release the block. The block slides across the tabletop.
The kinetic energy of the block came from the stored energy in the compressed spring.
This potential energy is called elastic potential energy.
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY
¡ The energy available for use when a deformed elastic object returns to its original
configuration.

¡ Elastic potential energy is stored in any compressed or stretched object, such as a

spring or the stretched strings of a tennis racket or guitar.
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY
¡ The length of a spring when no external forces are acting on it is called the relaxed
length of the spring.

¡ When an external force compresses or stretches the spring, elastic potential energy
is stored in the spring.

¡ The amount of energy depends on the distance the spring is compressed or

stretched from its relaxed length.
ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY

ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY

1 "
𝑃𝐸𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 = 𝑘𝑥
2

elastic potential energy = ½ x spring constant x (distance compressed or stretched) ^2

ELASTIC POTENTIAL ENERGY

¡ The symbol k is called the spring constant, or force constant.

¡ Spring constant- a parameter that is a measure of a spring’s resistance to
being compressed or stretched.

¡ For a flexible spring, the spring constant is small, whereas for a stiff
spring, the spring constant is large.

¡ Spring constant have units of newtons divided by meters (N/m) .

PRACTICE

¡ In many hardware stores bulk nuts and bolts are sold by weight. A spring scale in the
store stretches 4.8 cm when 24.0 N of bolts are weighed. On the scale, what is the
distance in cm between calibration marks that are marked in increments of 1N?
PRACTICE
¡ In a dart gun a spring with k=400.0 N/m is compressed 8.0 cm when the dart (mass
= 20.0 g) is loaded. What is the muzzle speed of the dart when the spring is released?
Ignore friction
PRACTICE
¡ A spring with a force constant of 5.2 N/m has a relaxed length of 2.45 m. When a
mass is attached to the end of the spring and allowed to come to rest the vertical
length of the spring is 3.57 m. Calculate the elastic potential energy stored in the
spring.
PRACTICE

¡ The staples inside a stapler are kept in place by a spring with a relaxed length of
0.115m. If the spring constant is 51.0 N/m, how much elastic potential energy is
stored in the spring when its length is 0.150m?
 SAMPLE PROBLEM
¡ A 70.0 kg stuntman is attached to a bungee cord with an unstretched length of 15.0m. He jumps
off a bridge spanning a river from a height of 50.0m. When he finally stops, the cord has a
stretched length of 44.0m. Treat the stuntman as a point mass and disregard the weight of the
bungee cord. Assuming the spring constant of the bungee cord is 71.8 N/m, what is the total
potential energy relative to the water when the man stops falling?
PRACTICE
¡ A dart of mass 0.100 kg is pressed against the spring of a toy dart gun. The spring,
with spring stiffness constant k = 250 N/m and ignorable mass is compressed 6.0 cm
and released. If the dart detaches from the spring when the spring reaches its natural
length (x = 0), what speed does the dart acquire?
 POWER

¡ The rate at which work is done is called

power.

¡ More generally, power is the rate of energy

transfer by any method.

¡ Like the concepts of energy and work,

power has a specific meaning in science
that differs from its everyday meaning.
POWER

A quantity that measures the rate at which work is done or energy is transformed.

POWER
%
P= ∆'

Power = work / time interval

 POWER
¡ It is sometimes useful to rewrite this equation in an alternative form by substituting the
definition of work into the definition power.
W = Fd
* ,
P = ∆+ = F∆+

The distance moved per unit time is just the speed of the object.

POWER (ALTERNATIVE FORM)

P = Fv
power = force x speed
EXAMPLE
¡ An electric motor lift an elevator 9.00 m in 15.0 s by
exerting an upward force of 1.20 x 104 N. What
power does the motor produce in kW?
EXAMPLE

¡ A 575 N box is lifted straight up a distance of 20.0 m by a cable attached to a motor.

The box moves with a constant velocity and the job is done in 10.0 s. What power is
developed by the motor in W and kW?
EXAMPLE

¡ What power does a pump develop to lift 35 L of water per minute from a depth of
110 m? (1L of water has a mass of 1.00 kg)
EXAMPLE

¡ An electric motor develops 65 kW of power as it lifts a loaded elevator 17.5m in 35

s. How much force does the motor exert?