CHAPTER 5

WORK, ENERGY
&
POWER
 LESSON OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, students should be able to :

i) define work and energy (potential & kinetic energy)

ii) describe the relationship between work & energy

iii) solve problems involving force, distance & work

iv) draw and understand the force – distance graph

v) define power & efficiency

vi) solve the problem related to work, energy & power

 CONCEPT OF WORK AND ENERGY
• Energy is ability of a system to do work.
• Whereas work is energy transferred to or from an object when a force
acting on the object.
• Energy exists in many different forms such as mechanical energy – energy
of movement and position eg ; kinetic energy & potential energy.
• Many sources of energy such as hydrocarbons i.e fuel, natural gas
 WORK
• Work is done when a force acts on an object, and the object moves
through a distance.
• Work done on an object by a constant force can be define as a the
product of the distance times the component of force parallel to the
distance.

• Mathematically, work can be expressed by

the following equation :

• SI unit is Joule (J)

 WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

• If force is parallel to distance of movement θ = 0° , thus

W=F.x
since cos 0° = 1
 WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

• If force making an angle, θ parallel to the distance :

W = F cos θ . x

• If force making an angle, θ perpendicular to the distance :

W=0
since θ = 90° relative to distance
WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE

• The man applies an upward

force when raising the box from
the ground to chest height.
• Work is done because the
direction of force is in the same
direction that the box moves.
• As the man walk to the right
while holding the box, no work
is done.
• The force he uses to support
the box is perpendicular to the
movement of the box.
 WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE
• Caution :
 Work done on an object is zero when F = 0 or x = 0 and  = 90.
Example 1 :

Determine the work done if the force is 45 N, the angle is 50° and
the displacement is 75 m.

Solution :

Ans : 2169.4 J
Example 2 :

A person pulls a 50 kg crate 40 m along a horizontal floor by a constant

force FP = 100 N, which acts at a 37° angle as shown in figure. The
floor is rough and exerts a friction force Ff = 50 N.

a) Determine the work done by each force acting on the crate.

b) Calculate the net work done on the crate.

Ans : WP = 3194.54 J, Wf = -2000 J, WN = WG 0 J, Wnet = 1194.54 J

Solution :
 GRAPH OF FORCE VERSUS DISTANCE
• Work done can be found by plotting force against distance with
force on y – axis
• The area under the graph is the work done
Example 4 :

The graph shows the force applied by a cyclist and her bicycle vary
with distance at the start of a race. Determine the work done by the
cyclist for the entire motion.

Solution :

Ans : 19 kJ
 ENERGY
• Energy is defined as the ability of the system to do work.
• When a force does work on a body, it changes the energy
of the body.
• The unit of energy is Joule (J)
• ‘ Transferred energy ’ = ‘Work’
• Energy exists in a number of forms, but we will consider
two main types :
i) kinetic energy (KE)
ii) potential energy (PE)
 KINETIC ENERGY
• An object in motion has the ability to do work and thus can be
said to have energy.
• The energy of motion is called kinetic energy.
• Kinetic energy is an energy that depends on a speed of an
object.
• Kinetic energy is given by formula :

KE  mv 1
2
2
 WORK – ENERGY THEOREM
• When a net external force does work on an object, the
kinetic energy of the object changes according to :

W  KE f  KE i  mv  mu 1
2
2 1
2
2

 
W  mas   m 12 v 2  u2  12 mv2  12 mu2

v 2  u2  2as 
as  12 v 2  u2 
Example 5 :

a) Determine the speed of a 625 kg roller coaster car that has a

kinetic energy of 1.05 x105 J.
b) If the roller coaster car in the above problem was moving with
twice the speed, then what would be its new kinetic energy?

Solution :

Ans : 18.33 m/s, 420 kJ

Example 6 :

Determine net work required to accelerate a 1000 kg car from 20 m/s to

30 m/s.

Solution :

Ans : 250 kJ
Example 7 :

The mass of the space probe is 474 kg and its initial velocity is 275
m/s. Determine the final velocity of the probe if the work done on the
probe is 1.36 x 108 J.

Solution :

Ans : 805.89 m/s

 POTENTIAL ENERGY
• Potential energy is an energy stored in a
system and depends on a vertical
position (height) of the object.
• Potential energy is given by formula :

PE  mgh

• Work done by gravity can be define by

the change in gravitational potential
energy :
Example 8 :

A hiker carries 15 kg backpack up a hill as shown in figure. Determine

the work done by gravity on the backpack. Given h = 10 m.
For simplicity, assume the motion is smooth and at constant velocity.

Solution :

Ans : -1471.5 J
Example 9 :

A 1000 kg roller-coaster car moves from point 1, to point 2 and then to point 3.
a) Calculate the gravitational potential energy at points 2 and 3 relative to
point 1. (take the reference point 1, y = 0)
b) Determine the change in potential energy, when the car goes from point 2
to point 3

Solution :

Ans : 9.81 x104 J, - 1.47 x 105 J, -2.45 x 105 J

 THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSERVATION OF
MECHANICAL ENERGY

• Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be

converted from one form to another.

• Thus, the total mechanical energy (E = KE + PE) of an

object remains constant as the object moves, provided that
the net work done by external non-conservative forces is
zero.

( PE  KE )i  ( PE  KE ) f

23
THE CONSERVATION OF MECHANICAL
ENERGY

( PE  KE ) i  ( PE  KE ) f
24
Example 10 :

The gymnast leaves the trampoline at an initial height of 1.2 m and

reaches a maximum height of 4.8 m before falling back down.
Calculate the initial speed of the gymnast. (Assume the mechanical
energy is conserved)

Solution :

25
Ans : 8.4 m/s
Example 11 :

A motorcyclist is trying to leap across the canyon by driving

horizontally off a cliff 38 m/s at a height of 70 m. Ignoring air
resistance, find the speed with which the cycle strikes the ground on
the other side ( h=35 m ).

Solution :

Ans : 46.2 m/s

Solution :

27
 Example 12 :

C
u
A

10 m
B
3m D

A ball of mass 0.5 kg is at point A with initial speed, u =4 m s-1 and at a

height of 10 m as shown in figure above .(Ignore frictional force).
Calculate:
a. the total energy at point A,
b. the speed of the ball at point B where the height is 3 m,
c. the speed of the ball at point D,
d. the maximum height of point C so that the ball can pass over it.
Solution :

Ans = 53.04 J, 12.38 m/s, 14.57 m/s, 10.81 m

 POWER
• Power can be defined as a rate at which work is done.
• It is obtained by dividing the work by the time required to
perform the work.

Work W
P 
Time t
Fs
P
t
P  Fv
30
Example 13 :

A motor of power 5 kW can lift an object vertically upward through a

distance of 35 m in 10 s. Determine the mass of object.

Solution :

Ans : 146.62 kg
Example 14 :

The power of the engine of a car of mass 950 kg is 3.5 kW when the
car moves at a speed of 20 m/s along a straight road. Find the total
resistance (force) against the car at this speed.

Solution :

Ans : 175 N
 EFFICIENCY
• Efficiency, e is defined as the ratio of the useful power output to the
power input.

• The efficiency is always less than 1.0 because no engine can create
energy, or even transform energy from one form to another without
losses (due to friction, thermal energy etc)
• Sometimes efficiency is expressed as a percentage :
Example 15 :

A bulb is provided with 100 J of electrical energy but only produces

20 J of light. Calculate the efficiency of the bulb.

Solution :

Ans : 0.2 or 20%