Work and Energy
Work is closely related to energy. The conservation of energy states that the change in total internal energy of a system equals the added heat minus the work performed by the system (see the first law of thermodynamics),
Also, from Newton's second law for rigid bodies it can be shown that work on an object is equal to the change in kinetic energy of that object,
- .
The work of forces generated by a potential function is known as potential energy and the forces are said to be conservative. Therefore work on an object moving in a conservative force field is equal to minus the change of potential energy of the object,
This shows that work is the energy associated with the action of a force, and so has the physical dimensions and units of energy.
The work energy principle discussed here is identical in the case of Electrical work.
Read more about this topic: Work (physics)
Famous quotes containing the words work and, work and/or energy:
“If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principleabsolute busynessthen utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busyand without consciousness.”
—Günther Grass (b. 1927)
“But it isnt only the terror everywhere, and the fear of being conscious of it, that freezes people. Its more than that. People know they are in a society dead or dying. They are refusing emotion because at the end of very emotion are property, money, power. They work and despise their work, and so freeze themselves. They love but know that its a half- love or a twisted love, and so they freeze themselves.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (19191987)