Imagine a chair that is bolted to the ground. No matter the effort and energy you exert on the chair, it just won’t move. Sadly, no work as been done – just a lot of exerted energy.
Jenn, Founder Calcworkshop®, 15+ Years Experience (Licensed & Certified Teacher)
Now picture a feather. You push the feather through the air and it lands on the ground after floating a small distance. What you just did was work!
Work Done in Moving an Object
Work is intrinsically linked to force and is described as a push or pull on an object. So applying force to move an object from one place to another is the technical definition of work.
In particular, we will learn how to calculate the work done over a variable or changing distance; a further application of integration.
Then we will discuss Hooke’s Law, which measures the force required to maintain a spring stretched beyond its natural length. .
This means that the force to stretch a spring is proportional to the distance the spring is stretched. And as Wikipedia states, if we were to graph the force in relationship to its position, we would find that it’s a line passing through the origin (F=kx), and the work done would be the area under this curve.
Definition of Hooke’s Law
Next, we will look at three examples of how to stretch a spring beyond its natural length and discover there are only two steps for these problem types.
Then we will quickly review work and force, and discuss the US measurements of foot-pounds and the SI measurements of Newton-meters or Joules.
Lastly, we will go through four examples of finding work which includes:
- Lifting A Bucket And Rope
- Lifting A Coiled Chain To Extension
- Lifting A Leaky Bucket
- Pumping Water Out Of A Tank
Work and Hooke’s Law Video
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