In thermodynamics, motive power is an agency, such as water or steam, used to impart motion. Generally, motive power is defined as a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover. The term may also define something, as a locomotive or a motor, which provides motive power to a system. In current use, motive power may be thought of as a synonym for either "work", i.e. force times distance, or "power", an effect producing motion, depending on the context of the discussion.
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Famous quotes containing the words motive power, motive and/or power:
“The short lesson that comes out of long experience in political agitation is something like this: all the motive power in all of these movements is the instinct of religious feeling. All the obstruction comes from attempting to rely on anything else. Conciliation is the enemy.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)
“We have not the motive to prepare ourselves for a “life-work” of teaching, of social work—we know that we would lay it down with hallelujah in the height of our success, to make a home for the right man. And all the time in the background of our consciousness rings the warning that perhaps the right man will never come. A great love is given to very few. Perhaps this make-shift time filler of a job is our life work after all.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)