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NAVIGATION WORK ENERGY AND POWER
BAR

Imagine a porter carrying a load on his

Work
head. Is he doing any work? Yes, one
Cases where work is not would say! He would be paid for carrying
done
that load from one place to another. But in
Units of work terms of Physics he is not doing any work!
Positive and Negative Work Again, imagine a man pushing a wall? Do
Examples on Work Done
you think he is doing any work? Well, his
muscles are contracting and expanding.
Variable Force
He may even be sweating. But in Physics,
Example on Variable Force we would say he is not doing any work!
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If the porter is carrying a very heavy load
for a long distance, we would say he has
lot of energy. By this, we mean that he has
lot of stamina. If a car can run at a very
high speed, we say it is very powerful. So,
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we relate power to speed. However, it
means something different in Physics. Let
us understand what is meant by work,
power and energy in Physics.
 Work
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NAVIGATION Consider the simplest possible case of work done. A force
‘F’ is acting on an object. The object has a displacement
BAR ‘S’ in the direction of the force. Then the work done is the
product of force and displacement.

Work

Cases where work is not done

F
Units of work

Positive and Negative Work

Examples on Work Done

S
Variable Force

Example on Variable Force What will happen in the case when the applied force is not
in the direction of displacement but rather at an angle to it.
Contact us In such a case we will consider the component of force in
the direction of displacement. This component will be
effective in doing work as shown.

F
θ
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Component of force in the direction of displacement is F

Cos θ.
W = (F Cos θ) S = F. S
Work done is a scalar quantity.
 Cases where work is not done
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NAVIGATION Let us consider some cases where work is not done:
 Work is zero if applied force is zero (W=0 if F=0): If a
BAR block is moving on a smooth horizontal surface
(frictionless), no work will be done. Note that the block
may have large displacement but no work gets done.
Work  Work is zero if Cos θ is zero or θ = Π/2. this explains
why no work is done by the porter in carrying the load.
Cases where work is not
As the porter carries the load by lifting it upwards and
done
the moving forward it is obvious the angle between the
Units of work force applied by the porter and the displacement is 90o.
 Work done is zero when displacement is zero. This
Positive and Negative Work happens when a man pushes a wall. There is no
Examples on Work Done
displacement of the wall. Thus, there is no work done.
Similarly when a car is moving on a road, there will be a
Variable Force frictional force applied by the road on the. There will be
work done by the frictional force on the car. What is the
Example on Variable Force work done on the road by the car? From Newton’s third
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law we can say that to every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction. Thus the force applied by the road on
the car will be equal and opposite to the force applied by
the car on the road. Since, there is no displacement of the
road, there will be no work done on the road.

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 Units of Work
Tutor4physics.com Since work done W = F.S, its units are force times length. The
NAVIGATION SI unit of work is Newton-meter (Nm). Another name for it is
Joule (J).
BAR
1 Nm = 1 J

Work The unit of work in cgs system is dyne cm or erg

Cases where work is not Note that 1 J = 107 ergs.
done

Units of work The dimensional formula of work is [ML2T-2]

Positive and Negative Work

Examples on Work Done

Table 1:
Variable Force System Unit of work Name of the combined
unit
Example on Variable Force SI Newton meter (Nm) Joule
cgs Dyne centimeter Erg
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(dyne-cm)

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 Positive and Negative Work
Tutor4physics.com We have seen the situations when the work done is zero.
NAVIGATION Work done can also be positive or negative. When 0 o <= θ
< 90o, work done is positive as Cos θ is positive. Work
BAR done by a force is positive if the applied force has a
component in the direction of the displacement. When a
body is falling down, the force of gravitation is acting in
Work the downward direction. The displacement is also in the
downward direction. Thus the work done by the
Cases where work is not done gravitational force on the body is positive. Consider the
Units of work
same body being lifted in the upward direction. In this
case, the force of gravity is acting in the downward
Positive and Negative Work direction. But, the displacement of the body is in the
upward direction. Since the angle between the force and
Examples on Work Done displacement is 180o, the work done by the gravitational
Variable Force
force on the body is negative.

Example on Variable Force

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Note, that in this case the work done by the applied force
which is lifting the body up is positive since the angle
between the applied force and displacement is positive.

Thus work done by the applied force which is lifting up

the body is positive since the angle between the applied
force and displacement is positive. Thus work done is
negative when 90o < θ <= 180o as Cos θ is negative. We
can also say that work done by a force is negative if the
applied force has a component in a direction opposite to
the displacement.

Similarly, frictional force is always opposing the relative

motion of the body. When a body is dragged along a rough
surface, the frictional force will be acting in the direction
opposite to the displacement. The angle between the
frictional force and the displacement of the body will be
180o. Thus, the work done by the frictional force will be
negative.
 Examples on Work Done

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NAVIGATION Example1:
A box is dragged across a floor by a 100N force directed 60o
BAR above the horizontal. How much work does the force do in
pulling the object 8m?

Work F = 100N
θ = 60o
Cases where work is not S = 8m
done W = (F Cos θ) S
=(100 Cos 60o) 8
Units of work
= 100x1/2x 8 = 400 J
Positive and Negative Work

Examples on Work Done

Variable Force

Example on Variable Force

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N F = 100 N
 W
Examples on Work Done

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NAVIGATION Example 2:
A horizontal force F pulls a 10 kg carton across the floor at
BAR constant speed. If the coefficient of sliding friction between
the carton and the floor is 0.30, how much work is done by F
in moving the carton by 5m?
Work

Cases where work is not

done N

Units of work

Positive and Negative Work

F
Examples on Work Done

Variable Force
f

Example on Variable Force The carton moves with constant speed. Thus, the carton is in
horizontal equilibrium.
Contact us W
F = f = μN = μmg.

Thus F = 0.3 x 10 x 9.8

= 29.4 N

Therefore work done W = FS

=(29.4 Cos 0o)%
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 Variable Force

Tutor4physics.com Force in everyday life is usually not a constant force. So

NAVIGATION far, when we have discussed work done, we have assumed
that the force is constant. What happens if the force is
BAR variable? The figure below is a graph of varying force in
one dimension.

Work

Cases where work is not

done

Units of work

Positive and Negative Work

Let us first understand how de we find work done from a
Examples on Work Done
graph. If we are talking about a constant force, the area
Variable Force under the graph (which will be a rectangle) gives us the
work done.
Example on Variable Force

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 Example on Variable Force
Tutor4physics.com Example 3
NAVIGATION
A force F = 2x + 5 acts on a particle. Find the work done by the
BAR force during the displacement of the particle from x =0m to x =
2m. Given that the force is in Newtons.

Work Work done W = ∫F(x)dx

Cases where work is not Thus W = = ∫F(x)dx Cos 0o
done

Units of work
= ∫F(x)dx
Positive and Negative Work
= ∫(2x + 5)dx
Examples on Work Done

Variable Force = 2x2/2 + 5x |

Example on Variable Force = 22 + 5 x 2

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= 14 J

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NAVIGATION
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BAR Work Power Energy

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Work request for payment through PayPal.com

Cases where work is not best regards

done
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Units of work

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Variable Force
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