LECTURE 5P1 - Work,

Power, and Energy

Instructor: Duong Minh Bui, Ph.D.
Lecturer in Electrical Power Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Vietnamese-German University, Vietnam
Email: duong.bm@vgu.edu.vn
 Learning Outcomes
What it means for a force to do work on a body, and how to calculate the amount of
work done.
The definition of the kinetic energy (energy of motion) of a body, and what it means
physically.
How the total work changes the body’s kinetic energy, and how to use this principle to
solve problems in mechanics.
How to use the relationship between the total work and the change in kinetic energy
when the forces are not constant, the body follows a curved path, or both.
How to solve problems involving power (the rate of doing work).

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 CONTENT
First we will define work and describe how it may be accomplished and calculated.
Then we will briefly consider power, a quantity that is useful in many practical
applications.
Next we will encounter energy in its mechanical forms, namely, kinetic and potential
energies, and see how these quantities are related to work.
Finally, we will see how kinetic and potential energies are used to express the
conservation of energy principle, the essential physical relationship of this lecture.

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1. WORK (1)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force

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1. WORK (2)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)

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1. WORK (3)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)

The value of work, however, may be positive (0 90), zero ( 90), or negative
(90 180).
Notice that the component ̂ of the applied force that is perpendicular to the
displacement of the particle does no work on the particle.
In fact, no amount of force on a body results in work unless that force has a component
in the direction of the displacement of the body.
The units of work are those of force multiplied by length. In the metric system the unit
of work is the newton-meter (Nm), which is defined to be the joule (J). In the English
system, the unit of work is the foot-pound (ft · lb).

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1. WORK (4)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)

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1. WORK (5)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)
Exercises:

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1. WORK (6)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)

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1. WORK (7)
1.1 Work Done by a Constant Force (cont.)
The Scalar Product of Two Vectors:

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1. WORK (8)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force
= constant

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1. WORK (9)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)

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1. WORK (10)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Example:

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1. WORK (11)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)

(for the same direction)

(for the different direction)

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1. WORK (12)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)

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1. WORK (13)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Work Done by a Spring

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1. WORK (14)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Work Done by a Spring – Spring Force

where x is the position of the block relative to its equilibrium (x = 0) position and k is a
positive constant called the force constant or the spring constant of the spring.
căng ra nén lại
In other words, the force required to stretch or compress a spring is proportional to the
amount of stretch or compression x. This force law for springs is known as Hooke’s law.
độ cứng
The value of k is a measure of the stiffness of the spring. Stiff springs have large k values,
and soft springs have small k values.

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1. WORK (15)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Work Done by a Spring

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1. WORK (16)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Work Done by a Spring

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1. WORK (17)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Work Done by a Spring

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1. WORK (18)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Example:

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1. WORK (19)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Example:

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1. WORK (20)
1.2 Work by a Variable Force (cont.)
Example:

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1. WORK (20)
1.3 Work by an Arbitrary Force
Figure 5.9 represents the most general situation for calculating
the work done by a force. Here a variable force does work on
a particle moving along an arbitrary trajectory from position
to position .
Because is variable, its magnitude and direction may change
continuously as the particle moves. The work done by is then
the sum of the infinitesimal amounts of work done by as
the particle undergoes an infinitesimal displacement .
vô cùng nhỏ
For each infinitesimal displacement, the work done by is

where is the component of in the direction of the

displacement .

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1. WORK (21)
1.3 Work by an Arbitrary Force (cont.)

tiếp tuyến
quỹ đạo

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2. POWER (1)
Power is the measure of the rate at which work is being done.
In the case of a motor, the average power being developed over a period of time is
defined as the quantity of work ∆ done by the motor divided by the time interval ∆
required to do that work, and, in general, average power is defined to be:

If work is expressed as a function of time, the instantaneous power being developed at

any instant is defined to be:

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2. POWER (2)

Dot product

Dot product

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2. POWER (3)

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2. POWER (4)
Exercises:

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2. POWER (5)

The rate at which the gravitational force is then doing work, that is, the
power being delivered by this force at this instant is:
900

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3. ENERGY (1)
3.1 Kinetic Energy
One of the forms of energy that may be associated with
a particle is called kinetic energy, the measure of the
ability of a particle to do work because of its motion.

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3. ENERGY (2)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)

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3. ENERGY (3)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)

Work = Kinetic energy

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3. ENERGY (4)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)

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3. ENERGY (5)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)

" #$ % #&

The work done by the net force on a particle of mass m

is equal to the difference between the initial and final
values of a quantity ⁄ "# .
This quantity is so important that it has been given a
special name, kinetic energy:
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3. ENERGY (6)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)
Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem:

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3. ENERGY (7)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)

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REVIEW - Position, Velocity, and Speed of a Particle (1)
Speed and velocity:
Consider a marathon runner who runs a distance d of more than 40 km and yet ends
up at her starting point. Her total displacement is zero, so her average velocity is
zero! Nonetheless, we need to be able to quantify how fast she was running. A slightly
different ratio accomplishes that for us.
The average speed vavg of a particle, a scalar quantity, is defined as the total
distance d traveled divided by the total time interval required to travel that distance:

The SI unit of average speed is the same as the unit of average velocity: meters
per second. Unlike the average velocity, however, average speed has no direction
and is always expressed as a positive number.

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REVIEW - Position, Velocity, and Speed of a Particle (2)
Speed and velocity (cont.):
The definitions of average velocity and average speed: average velocity is the
displacement divided by the time interval, whereas average speed is the distance divided
by the time interval.
The average velocity is the vector quantity whereas the average speed is scalar quantity.

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REVIEW - Position, Velocity, and Speed of a Particle (3)
The instantaneous velocity v(t), a vector quantity illustrated in Figure 2. l(b), is the rate
at which the position of a particle is changing with respect to time.
The magnitude of v at a given instant is |dx/dt| = |vx|, the speed of the particle;
The motion of the particle is in the positive x direction if dx/dt is positive and in the
negative x direction if dx/dt is negative.
The speed of the particle at any instant is how fast the particle is moving at that instant.
Its speed at a given instant is equal to the distance the particle would traverse (vượt qua)
each second if it proceeded at the rate it is moving at the given instant.

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3. ENERGY (8)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)
Examples - A Block Pulled on a Frictionless Surface

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 3. ENERGY (9)
3.1 Kinetic Energy (cont.)
Examples - Does the Ramp Lessen the Work Required? A whole system

where h = Lsin is the height of the ramp at the truck. Therefore, the man must do the same amount of work mgh on the
system regardless of the length of the ramp. The work depends only on the height of the ramp. Although less force is
required with a longer ramp, the point of application of that force moves through a greater displacement.

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3. ENERGY (10)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System
Like kinetic energy, potential energy represents the ability to
do work. But potential energy arises because of interactions
between two or more bodies. Thus, the potential energy of a
system of interacting objects represents the ability of the
system to do work because of its configuration.

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3. ENERGY (11)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System (cont.)
Gravitational Potential Energy:

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3. ENERGY (12)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System (cont.)

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3. ENERGY (13)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System (cont.)
Elastic Potential Energy:

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3. ENERGY (14)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System (cont.)
Elastic Potential Energy (cont.):

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3. ENERGY (15)
3.2 Potential Energy of a System (cont.)
Elastic Potential Energy (cont.):

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 THANK YOU VERY MUCH

“WRITING IS THE THINKING”

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Quick Test (15mins)

a)

b)

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