General Physics 1

Quarter 1 – Module 6:
Week 6: Work-Energy Relation
 Lesson
6 Work-Energy Relation
In this module, the learners will be able to define work as a scalar or dot
product of force and displacement, interpret the work done by a force in one
dimension as an area under a force versus position curve and relate gravitational
and elastic potential energy of a system or object to the configuration of the system
then, explain the properties and the effects of conservative forces.

What is It

Work as a Scalar of Force and Displacement

When a force acts upon an object to cause a displacement of the object, it is

said that work was done upon the object. There are three key ingredients to work -
force, displacement, and cause. In order for a force to qualify as having done work on
an object, there must be a displacement and the force must cause the displacement.
Drill
Read the following statements and determine whether or not they represent
examples of work. (Without seeing at its explanations)
1. A teacher applies a force to a wall and becomes exhausted.
2. A book falls off a table and free falls to the ground.
3. A waiter carries a tray full of meals above his head by one arm straight across the
room at constant speed.
4. A rocket accelerates through space.

Did you Got it all correct?

Explanations:
1. This is not an example of work. The wall is not displaced. A force must cause a
displacement in order for work to be done.
2. This is an example of work. There is a force (gravity) which acts on the book which
causes it to be displaced in a downward direction (i.e., "fall").
3. This is not an example of work. There is a force (the waiter pushes up on the tray)
and there is a displacement (the tray is moved horizontally across the room). Yet the
force does not cause the displacement. To cause a displacement, there must be a
component of force in the direction of the displacement.
4. This is an example of work. There is a force (the expelled gases push on the rocket)
which causes the rocket to be displaced through space.

Mathematically, work can be expressed by the following equation.

W = F • d • cos Θ
Where : W = work
F = force
d= displacement
cos θ = angle between the force and displacement vector

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Work is a scalar quantity. The dot product of force and displacement which are all
vector quantities.
The angle measure is defined as the angle between the force and the displacement.
To gather an idea of it's meaning, consider the following three scenarios.
Scenario A: A force acts rightward upon an
object as it is displaced rightward. In such
an instance, the force vector and the
displacement vector are in the same
direction. Thus, the angle between F and d
is 0 degrees.
Scenario B: A force acts leftward upon an
object that is displaced rightward. In such
an instance, the force vector and the
displacement vector are in the opposite
direction. Thus, the angle between F and d
is 180 degrees.
Scenario C: A force acts upward on an
object as it is displaced rightward. In such
an instance, the force vector and the
displacement vector are at right angles to each other. Thus, the angle between
F and d is 90 degrees.
Moreover, when the force and displacement are in the same direction, we call the
work as positive while in the opposite direction, we call the work as negative.

Activity 1.
A. Determine which of the following statements are true about work, write the word
true if the statement is true otherwise you write false. Then explain why is the
statement true or false?
1. Superman applies a force on a truck to prevent it from moving down a hill. This is
an example of work being done.
2. An upward force is applied to a bucket as it is carried 20 m across the yard. This
is an example of work being done.
3. A force is applied by a chain to a roller coaster car to carry it up the hill of the first
drop of the Shockwave ride. This is an example of work being done.
4. The force of friction acts upon a softball player as she makes a headfirst dive into
third base. This is an example of work being done.
5. An eraser is tied to a string; a person holds the string and applies a tension force
as the eraser is moved in a circle at constant speed. This is an example of work
being done.
B. Consider the following physical situations. Identify whether the indicated force
(in boldface type) does positive work, negative work or no work.

1. A busy spider hangs motionless from a silk supported by the tension in the thread.
2. In baseball. The catcher exerts an abrupt applied force upon the ball to stop it
in the catcher’s mitt.
3. In a physics lab an applied force is exerted parallel to a plane inclined at 3-degress
in order to displace a cart up the incline.
4. A cable is attached to a bucket and the force of tension is used to pull the bucket
out of the wall.
5. Rusty uses hammer to exert an applied force upon a stubborn nail to drive it into
the wall.

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C. Determine the angle between the indicated force (in boldface type) and the
displacement ("theta" in the work equation).
1. A rightward applied force is used to displace a television set to the right.
2. The force of friction acts upon a rightward-moving car to bring it to a stop.
3. A child rests on the seat of a swing which is supported by the tension in its
cables; he swings from the highest position to its lowest position.

Potential Energy

Is the stored energy of position possessed by an object. An object can store

energy as the result of its position. For example, the heavy ball of a demolition
machine is storing energy when it is held at an elevated position. This stored energy
of position is referred to as potential energy. Similarly, a drawn bow is able to store
energy as the result of its position. When assuming its usual position (i.e., when not
drawn), there is no energy stored in the bow.

Gravitational Potential Energy

Gravitational potential energy is the energy stored in an object as the result of its
vertical position or height. The energy is stored as the result of the gravitational
attraction of the Earth for the object. The gravitational potential energy of the massive
ball of a demolition machine is dependent on two variables - the mass of the ball and
the height to which it is raised. There is a direct relation between gravitational
potential energy and the mass of an object. More massive objects have greater
gravitational potential energy. There is also a direct relation between gravitational
potential energy and the height of an object. The higher that an object is elevated,
the greater the gravitational potential energy. These relationships are expressed by
the following equation:
PEgrav = mass • g • height

PEgrav = m *• g • h
Where:
m = mass of the object
h = height of the object
g = gravitational field strength (9.8 N/kg on Earth)/ acceleration due gravity.

Relating Gravitational Potential Energy to Work

If an object is lifted, work is done against the force of gravity. When work is
done energy is transferred to the object and it gains gravitational potential energy. If

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the object falls from that height, the same amount of work would have to be done by
the force of gravity to bring it back to the Earth’s surface.
If an object at a certain height has 2000 J of gravitational potential energy, we can
say that:
2000 J of work has been done in getting the object to that height from the
ground and
2000 J of work would have to be done to bring it back to the ground.

Gravitational potential energy = work done

Gravitational potential energy of an object is directly proportional to its height

above the zero position, a doubling of the height will result in a doubling of the
gravitational potential energy. A tripling of the height will result in a tripling of the
gravitational potential energy.

Activity 2A.
Use the principle above to determine the blanks in the diagram below. Knowing that
the potential energy at the top of the tall platform is 50 J, what is the potential energy
at the other positions shown on the stair steps and the incline?

Elastic Potential Energy

Is the energy stored in elastic materials as the result of their stretching or

compressing. Elastic potential energy can be stored in rubber bands, bungee chords,
trampolines, springs, an arrow drawn into a bow, etc. The amount of elastic potential
energy stored in a device is related to the amount of stretch of the device - the more
stretch, the more stored energy.
Springs are device that can store elastic potential energy due to either
compression or stretching. A force is required to compress a spring; the more
compression there is, the more force that is required to compress it further. For
certain springs, the amount of force is directly proportional to the amount of stretch
or compression (x); the constant of proportionality is known as the spring constant
(k).
Fspring = k • x
If a spring is not stretched or compressed, then there is no elastic potential energy
stored in it. The spring is said to be at its equilibrium position. The equilibrium
position is the position that the spring naturally assumes when there is no force
applied to it. In terms of potential energy, the equilibrium position could be called
the zero-potential energy position. The equation for springs that relates the amount
of elastic potential energy to the amount of stretch (or compression) and the spring
constant is;

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 PEspring = 0.5 • k • x2 or PEspring = 1/2 • k • x2

where k = spring constant

x = amount of compression
(relative to equilibrium position)

Activity 2B. Determine which of the following statements are true about work, write
the word true if the statement is true otherwise you write false. Then explain why is
the statement true or false?
1. Both gravitational and elastic potential energy are dependent upon the mass of an
object.
2. The gravitational potential energy of an object is dependent upon the mass of the
object.
3. If the mass of an elevated object is doubled, then its gravitational potential energy
will be doubled as well.
4. Gravitational potential energy is lost as objects free-fall to the ground.
5. The higher that an object is, the more potential energy which it will have.

Kinetic Energy

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. An object that has motion - whether it
is vertical or horizontal motion - has kinetic energy. There are many forms of kinetic
energy - vibrational (the energy due to vibrational motion), rotational (the energy due
to rotational motion), and translational (the energy due to motion from one location
to another). To keep matters simple, we will focus upon translational kinetic energy.
The amount of translational kinetic energy (from here on, the phrase kinetic energy
will refer to translational kinetic energy) that an object has depends upon two
variables: the mass (m) of the object and the speed (v) of the object. The following
equation is used to represent the kinetic energy (KE) of an object.
KE = 0.5 • m • v2
KE = 1/2 • m • v2
where m = mass of object
v = speed of object
The equation reveals that the kinetic energy of an object is directly
proportional to the square of its speed. That means that for a twofold increase in
speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of four. For a threefold increase in
speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of nine. And for a fourfold increase
in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of sixteen. The kinetic energy is
dependent upon the square of the speed.
Kinetic energy is a scalar quantity; it does not have a direction. The kinetic energy of
an object is completely described by magnitude alone. Like work and potential
energy, the standard metric unit of measurement for kinetic energy is the Joule. 1
Joule is equivalent to 1 kg*(m/s)2.

1 Joule = 1 kg • m2/s2

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Activity 2C. Rank these four objects in increasing order of kinetic energy, beginning
with the smallest.

Object A Object B Object C Object D

m = 5.0 kg m = 10.0 kg m = 1.0 kg m = 5.0 kg

v = 4.0 m/s v = 2.0 m/s v = 5.0 m/s v = 2.0 m/s
h = 2.0 m h = 3.00 m h = 5.0 m h = 4.0 m

Power
Power is the rate at which work is done. It is the work/time ratio. Mathematically, it
is computed using the following equation.
Power = Work / time

or

P=W/t

The standard metric unit of power is the Watt. A unit of power is equivalent to a unit
of work divided by a unit of time. Thus, a Watt is equivalent to a Joule/second. For
historical reasons, the horsepower is occasionally used to describe the power
delivered by a machine. One horsepower is equivalent to approximately 750 Watts.

Most machines are designed and built to do work on objects. All machines are
typically described by a power rating. The power rating indicates the rate at which
that machine can do work upon other objects. Thus, the power of a machine is the
work/time ratio for that particular machine. A car engine is an example of a machine
that is given a power rating. The power rating relates to how rapidly the car can
accelerate the car. For the same amount of work, power and time are inversely
proportional. A person is also a machine that has a power rating. Some people are
more power-full than others.

Another Formula for Power

The expression for power is work/time. And since the expression for work is
force*displacement, the expression for power can be rewritten as
(force*displacement)/time. Since the expression for velocity is displacement/time,
the expression for power can be rewritten once more as force*velocity. This is shown
below.

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This equation for power reveals that
a powerful machine is both strong (big force) and fast (big velocity).
a powerful car engine is strong and fast.
a powerful piece of farm equipment is strong and fast.
a powerful weightlifter is strong and fast.
a powerful lineman on a football team is strong and fast.
a machine that is strong enough to apply a big force to cause a displacement
in a small amount of time (i.e., a big velocity) is a powerful machine.

Activity 3. Answer the following questions

A. Two physics students, Will and Ben , 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.
B. During a physics lab, Jack and Jill ran up a hill. Jack is twice as massive as Jill;
yet Jill ascends the same distance in half the time.
Who did the most work? ______________
Who delivered the most power? ______________ Explain your answers.

Conservative and Non Conservative Forces

A conservative force is a force done in moving a particle from one point to another,
such that the force is independent of the path taken by the particle. It depends only
on the initial and final position of the particle. Gravitational force and elastic spring
forces are two such examples of conservation forces.

What is Conservative Force?

Conservative force conserves energy. It follows the law of conservation of energy.
Many forces in nature like, the magnetic force, electrostatic force, gravitational force,
etc. are examples of a conservative force.
Gravitational force acting on a particle
In the given image, the gravitational force acting
on the particle has a magnitude equal to mg,
where m is the mass of the substance and g is the
acceleration due to gravity. The particle moves
from point A to point B, and its vertical
displacement is given by Δh. The blue curve in
the image represents the arbitrary path traveled
by the body due to the influence of other forces
acting on the body. But the arbitrary path is of no
consideration to the force of gravity as it is
unaffected by them and therefore can be treated
independently. The force of gravity is only dependent on the vertical displacement.

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The total work done by gravity on the body is given as follows:

Wg = -mg (Δh)

Where,

 Δh is the difference between the final position (at point B) and the initial
position (at point A)
 g is the acceleration due to gravity
 m is the mass of the body
No matter how complicated the path taken by the particle might be, we can easily
find out the work done by gravity on the particle using the above expression just by
knowing the vertical displacement. From this, we can conclude that the gravitational
force doesn’t depend on the path taken but only depends on the initial and final
position. Hence, the gravitational force is a conservative force.

Properties of Conservative Forces

If a force has the following properties, then it is said to be a conservative force.

 When the force only dependent on the initial and final position irrespective of
the path taken.
 In any closed path, the work done by a conservative force is zero.
 The work done by a conservative force is reversible.

What is Non-Conservative force?

A non-conservative force is a force for which the work done depends on the path
taken. Friction is an example of a non-conservative force. A force is said to be a non-
conservative force if it results in the change of mechanical energy, which is nothing
but the sum of potential and kinetic energy. The work done by a non-conservative
force adds or removes mechanical energy. For example, when work is done by
friction, thermal energy is dissipated. The energy lost cannot be fully recovered.

Properties of Non-Conservative Forces

It has the opposite properties of conservative forces.

 It is path dependent therefore it also depends on the initial and final velocity.
 In any closed path, the total work done by a non-conservative force is not zero.
 The work done by a non-conservative force is irreversible.

Activity 4. Which of the following statements are true about conservative and non-
conservative forces?
1. A force is regarded as a conservative force if it does work but does not remove
mechanical energy from a system of objects.
2. A force is regarded as a non-conservative force if it does not add mechanical energy
to a system of objects.

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3. If a non-conservative force acts upon an object, then the object will either gain or
lose mechanical energy.
4. If the only forces which do work upon an object are conservative forces, then the
object will conserve its mechanical energy.
5. If the sum of an object's KE and PE is remaining constant, then non-conservative
forces are NOT doing work.

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