Work And Energy

Energy gives us one more tool to use to analyze physical situations. When
forces and accelerations are used, you usually freeze the action at a
particular instant in time, draw a free-body diagram, set up force equations,
figure out accelerations, etc. With energy the approach is usually a little
different. Often you can look at the starting conditions (initial speed and
height, for instance) and the final conditions (final speed and height), and not
have to worry about what happens in between. The initial and final
information can often tell you all you need to know.

When asked to perform a physically difficult task, a typical person is likely to

say either "That's too much work!" or "That takes too much energy!"

The fact that these expressions are used interchangeably, and that most
people use “energy” and “work” to mean the same thing when it comes to
their relationship to physical toil, is no coincidence; as is so often the case,
physics terms are often extremely illuminating even when used colloquially
by science-naïve folks.

Objects that possess internal energy by definition have the capacity to

do work. When an object’s kinetic energy (energy of motion; various
subtypes exist) changes as a result of work being done on the object to
speed it up or slow it down, the change (increase or decrease) in its kinetic
energy is equal to the work performed on it (which can be negative).

Work, in physical-science terms, is the result of a force displacing, or

changing the position of, an object with mass. “Work is force times distance”
is one way to express this concept, but as you’ll find, that’s an
oversimplification.

Since a net force accelerates, or changes the velocity of, an object with
mass, developing the relationships between the motion of an object and its
energy is a critical skill for any high-school or college physics student.
The work-energy theorem packages all of this together in a neat, easily
assimilated and powerful way.

Energy and Work Defined

Energy and work have the same basic units, kg ⋅ m2/s2. This mix is given an
SI unit of its own, the Joule. But work is usually given in the
equivalent newton-meter (N ⋅m). They are scalar quantities, meaning that
they have a magnitude only; vector quantities such as F, a, v and d have
both a magnitude and a direction.

Energy can be kinetic (KE) or potential (PE), and in each case it comes in
numerous forms. KE can be translational or rotational and involve visible
motion, but it can also include vibrational motion at the molecular level and
below. Potential energy is most often gravitational, but it can be stored in
springs, electrical fields and elsewhere in nature.

Net (total) work done is given by the following general equation:

Wnet = Fnet ⋅ d cos θ,

where Fnet is the net force in the system, d is the displacement of the object,
and θ is the angle between the displacement and force vectors. Though both
force and displacement are vector quantities, work is a scalar. If the force
and the displacement are in opposite directions (as occurs during
deceleration, or a decrease in velocity while an object continues on the
same path), than cos θ is negative and W net has a negative value.

Definition of the Work-Energy Theorem

Also known as the work-energy principle, the work-energy theorem states

that the total amount of work done on an object is equal to its change in
kinetic energy (the final kinetic energy minus the initial kinetic energy).
Forces do work in slowing objects down as well as speeding them up, as
 well as moving objects at constant velocity when doing so requires
overcoming an extant force.

If KE decreases, then net work W is negative. In words, this means that

when an object slows down, "negative work" has been done on that object.
An example is a skydiver's parachute, which (fortunately!) causes the
skydiver to lose KE by slowing her down greatly. Yet the motion during this
deceleration (loss of velocity) period is downward because of the force of
gravity, opposite the direction of the drag force of the chute.

 Note that when v is constant (that is, when ∆v = 0), ∆KE = 0 and
Wnet = 0. This is the case in uniform circular motion, such as satellites
orbiting a planet or star (this is actually a form of free fall in which only the
force of gravity accelerates the body).

Equation for the Work-Energy Theorem

The most commonly encountered form of the theorem is probably

Wnet = (1/2)mv2– (1/2)mv02,

Where v0 and v are the initial and final velocities of the object and m is its
mass, and Wnet is the net work, or total work.

As noted, work is usually in newton-meters, while kinetic energy is in joules.

Unless otherwise specified, force is in newtons, displacement is in meters,
mass is in kilograms and velocity is in meters per second.

Newton’s Second Law and the Work-Energy Theorem

You already know that W net = Fnetd cos θ , which is the same thing as W net =
m|a||d| cos θ (from Newton's second law, Fnet = ma). This means that the
quantity (ad), acceleration times displacement, is equal to W/m. (We delete
cos(θ) because the associated sign is taken care of by the product
of a and d).
One of the standard kinematic equations of motion, which deals with
situations involving constant acceleration, relates an object's displacement,
acceleration, and final and initial velocities: ad = (1/2)(vf2 – v02). But because
you just saw that ad = W/m, then W = m(1/2)(vf2 – v02), which is equivalent to
Wnet = ∆KE = KEf – KEi.

Real-Life Examples of the Theorem in Action

Example 1: A car with a mass of 1,000 kg brakes to a stop from a velocity of
20 m/s (45 mi/hr) over a length of 50 meters. What is the force applied to the
car?

∆KE = 0 – [(1/2)(1,000 kg)(20 m/s) 2] = –200,000 J

W = –200,000 Nm = (F)(50 m); F = –4,000 N

Example 2: If the same car is to be brought to rest from a velocity of 40 m/s
(90 mi/hr) and the same braking force is applied, how far will the car travel
before it stops?

∆KE = 0 – [(1/2)(1,000 kg)(40 m/s) 2] = –800,000 J

-800,000 = (–4,000 N)d; d = 200 m

Thus doubling speed causes the stopping distance to quadruple, all else
held the same. If you have the perhaps intuitive idea in your mind that going
from 40 miles an hour in a car to zero "only" results in twice as long a skid
as going from 20 miles an hour to zero does, think again!

Example 3: Assume you have two objects with the same momentum, but
m1 > m2 while v1 < v2. Does it take more work to stop the more massive,
slower object, or the lighter, speedier object?

You know that m1v1 = m2v2, so you can express v 2 in terms of the other
quantities: v2 = (m1/m2)v1. Thus the KE of the heavier object is (1/2)m 1v12 and
that of the lighter object is (1/2)m 2[(m1/m2)v1]2. If you divide the equation for
the lighter object by the equation for the heavier one, you find that the lighter
object has (m2/m1) more KE than the heavier one. This means that when
confronted with a bowling ball and marble with the same momentum, the
bowling ball will take less work to stop.