Work and kinetic energy

The importance of the energy idea stems from the principle of conservation of
energy: Energy is a quantity that can be converted from one form to another but
cannot be created or destroyed.
For example; In an automobile engine, chemical energy stored in the fuel is
converted partially to the energy of the automobile’s motion and partially to
thermal energy. In a microwave oven, electromagnetic energy obtained from your
power company is converted to thermal energy of the food being cooked.

in any motion, no matter how complicated, the total work done on a particle by all
forces that act on it equals the change in its kinetic energy—a quantity that’s
related to the particle’s mass and speed.

Work
In general, the work “W” done by a constant force ⃗𝑭 acting on a body in the same
⃗ which has the magnitude of s along a straight line
direction of its displacement 𝒔
(For now, assuming that anybody can be treated as a particle so that any rotation
or changes in shape of the body can be ignored) equals the product of the force
magnitude F and the displacement magnitude s:

W = Fs (constant force in direction of straight-line

displacement)
-------------- (1)
Joule “J” = N m
So, the work done on the body is greater if either the force F or the displacement s
is greater

Note:
Don’t confuse uppercase “W” (work) with lowercase “w” (weight).

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A constant force ⃗𝑭 can do positive, negative, or zero work depending on the angle
⃗ and the displacement 𝒔
between 𝑭 ⃗.

(a) Force F has a component in direction of

displacement:
W = F‖ s = (F cos ϕ) s
Work is positive.

(b) Force F has a component opposite to

direction of displacement:
W = F‖ s = (F cos ϕ) s
Work is negative (because F cos ϕ is negative
for 90° < ϕ >180°).
⃗ (or force component F┴) is
(c) Force 𝑭
perpendicular to direction of displacement:
The force (or force component) does no work
on the object.

Types of work: positive, negative, or zero

When the force has a component in the same direction as the displacement (ϕ
between 0º and 90º), cos ϕ is positive and the work W is positive. When the force
has a component opposite to the displacement (ϕ between 90º and 180º), cos ϕ is
negative and the work is negative. When the force is perpendicular to the
displacement, ϕ = 90º and the work done by the force is zero.

Zero work examples;

 Holding a barbell motionless in the air for some minutes. Although it seems
to be a hard work, but in fact, no work is being done on the barbell because
there is no displacement. Since, holding the barbell requires to keep the
muscles of the arms contracted, and this consumes energy stored in
carbohydrates and fat within the body. As this stored energy is used up, the
muscles feel fatigued even though no work is being done on the barbell.
 Carrying a book while walking with constant velocity on a level floor, no
work is being done on the book. It has a displacement, but the (vertical)
supporting force that is exerted on the book has no component in the
direction of the (horizontal) motion. Then ϕ = 90º, and cos ϕ = 0.
 When a body slides along a surface, the work done on the body by the
normal force is zero; and when a ball on a string moves in uniform circular
motion, the work done on the ball by the tension in the string is also zero. In

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 both cases the work is zero because the force has no component in the
direction of motion.
Work from the standpoint of Newton's third law of motion;

What does it mean to do negative work?

Example;
When a weightlifter lowers a barbell (Fig. a), his hands and the barbell move
together with the same displacement 𝒔 ⃗ . The barbell exerts a force ⃗𝑭barbell on hands on
his hands in the same direction as the hands’ displacement, so the work done by the
barbell on his hands is positive (Fig. b). But by Newton’s third law the
weightlifter’s hands exert an equal and opposite force 𝑭 ⃗ hands on barbell = ̶ 𝑭
⃗ barbell on
hands on the barbell (Fig. c). This force, which keeps the barbell from crashing to the
floor, acts opposite to the barbell’s displacement. Thus the work done by his hands
on the barbell is negative. Because the weightlifter’s hands and the barbell have the
same displacement, the work that his hands do on the barbell is just the negative of
the work that the barbell does on his hands.
In general, when one body does negative work on a second body, the second body
does an equal amount of positive work on the first body.

(a) A weightlifter lowers a (b) The barbell does positive (c) The weightlifter’s hands do
barbell to the floor. work on the weightlifter’s hands. negative work on the barbell.

The force of the

The force of the barbell
weightlifter’s hands on the
on the weightlifter’s
barbell is opposite to the
hands is in the same
barbell’s displacement.
direction as the hands’
displacement.

Work done by several forces

In case of all forces are constant and the displacement is along a straight line, the
total work can be determined in two ways:
(1) by adding the work done on the body by each force.
(2) by finding the work done by the net force on the body.

First draw a free-body diagram showing all of the forces acting on the body, and
choose a coordinate system.

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For each force (weight), normal force, force of the body, and friction force—
knowing the angle between the displacement (in the positive x-direction) and the
force. Hence, the work done by each force can be calculated by using the equation;
W = Fs cos ϕ -------------------- (2)

Then, the net force can be found by adding the components of the four forces.
Newton’s second law tells that, because the body’s motion is purely horizontal, the
net force can have only a horizontal component.

Kinetic Energy and the Work–Energy Theorem

As shown in the Figure below, when a particle undergoes a displacement, it speeds;

 up if; Wtot > 0, --------------- Fig. a

 slows down if; Wtot < 0, --------------- Fig. b

 maintains the same speed if; Wtot = 0. --------------- Fig. c

For more quantitative determination, the Figure below shows a particle with mass
m moves along the x-axis under the action of a constant net force with magnitude F
that points in the positive x-direction. The particle’s acceleration is constant and
given by Newton’s second law:
F = max -------------------- (3)

multiply this equation by m and equate max to the net force F;

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 ------------------ (4)

the product Fs is the work done by the net force F and thus is equal to the total
work Wtot done by all the forces acting on the particle. The quantity 1/2 mv2 is
called the kinetic energy “K” of the particle:

------------------ (5)

Like work, the kinetic energy of a particle is a scalar quantity; it depends on only
the particle’s mass and speed, not its direction of motion (Fig. below). Kinetic
energy can never be negative, and it is zero only when the particle is at rest.

Now Eq. (4) can be interpreted in terms of work and kinetic energy. The first term
on the right side of Eq. (4) is K2 = 1/2 mv22, the final kinetic energy of the particle
(that is, after the displacement). The second term is the initial kinetic energy, K1 =
1/2 mv12, and the difference between these terms is the change in kinetic energy. So
Eq. (4) says:

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 ------------------ (6)

 When Wtot is positive, the kinetic energy increases (the final kinetic energy
K2 is greater than the initial kinetic energy K1) and the particle is going faster
at the end of the displacement than at the beginning.
 When Wtot is negative, the kinetic energy decreases (K2 is less than K1) and
the speed is less after the displacement.
 When Wtot = 0, the kinetic energy stays the same (K1 = K2) and the speed is
unchanged.
Note that the work–energy theorem by itself tells us only about changes in speed,
not velocity, since the kinetic energy doesn’t depend on the direction of motion.

kinetic energy and work must have the same units. Hence the joule is the SI unit of
both work and kinetic energy.

Power
If a barbell weighing 100 N is lifted through a vertical distance of 1.0 m at constant
velocity, a work of (100 N)(1.0 m) = 100 J, is done whether it takes 1 second, 1
hour, or 1 year to do it. But often how quickly work is done, needs to be known.
This is described in terms of power.
In physics, the precise definition of Power is;
The time rate at which work is done. Like work and energy, power is a scalar
quantity.
The average work done per unit time, or average power Pav, is defined to be;

----------------- (7)
The rate at which work is done might not be constant. We define instantaneous
power “P” as the quotient in Eq. (7) as Δt approaches zero:

The SI unit of power is the watt (W). One watt equals 1 joule per second:
1 W = 1 J/s
Another common unit of power is the horsepower (hp)
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 1 hp = 746 W = 0.746 kW
The watt is a familiar unit of electrical power; a 100-W light bulb converts 100 J of
electrical energy into light and heat each second.
A light bulb could be rated in horsepower, and an engine can be rated in kilowatts.
The kilowatt-hour (kW.h) is the usual commercial unit of electrical energy. One
kilowatt-hour is the total work done in 1 hour (3600 s) when the power is 1
kilowatt (103 J/s), so;

The kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, not power.

In mechanics we can also express power in terms of force and velocity. Suppose
that a force ⃗𝑭 acts on a body while it undergoes a vector displacement Δ𝒔 ⃗ . If F‖ is
the component of ⃗𝑭 tangent to the path (parallel to Δ𝒔
⃗ ), then the work done by the
force is ΔW = F‖ Δ𝒔 ⃗ . The average power is;

Instantaneous power P is the limit of this expression as Δt → 0:

where v is the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity. Then;