Work, Power and Energy – Summary Notes

Work
 Work is said to be done when a force produces a displacement of a body.
 The amount of work done by a force is equal to the product of the force and the
displacement of the point of application of the force in the direction of force.
Work = Force  Displacement of point of application in the direction of force or W  F  S
 If there is no motion produced in the body even if a force acts on it, the work done is said
to be zero, i.e., no work is done.
 If a force F is acting on a body and it displaces the body such that the displacement is at
an angle  to the direction of force, then:
Work done = Force  Component of displacement in the direction of force
or W  F  Scos 
 If the displacement is in the direction of force, i.e.,   0 , then cos 0  1 .
 W  FS
In this case, the work done is maximum and positive.
 If the displacement is normal to the direction of force, i.e.,   90 , then cos 90  0 .
 W  F  Scos180  F  S
In this case, the work done is negative. This is usually the case when force opposes
the motion or tries to stop a moving body.
 Work done by the force of gravity, W = mgh, where m = mass of the body, g = acceleration
due to gravity, and h = height of the body from the earth’s surface.
 The work done by the force of gravity is the same whether a person comes down from a
certain height using a staircase or he comes down from the same height using a lift.
 Since both force and displacement are vector quantities, therefore, work is scalar quantity.
In vector form, it is written as:
W  FS [ The dot product of two vectors is a scalar]

 The SI unit of work is joule abbreviated as J. 1 joule of work is said to be done when a
force of 1 newton displaces a body through 1 metre in its own direction.
 The MKS unit of work is kg m2 s2 .
 The CGS unit of work is erg. 1 erg of work is said to be done when a force of 1 dyne
displaces a body through 1 cm in its own direction.

POWER
 Power is the rate of doing work. It is measured as the amount of work done in one second.
Work done
Power, P 
Time taken
W F S
or P 
t t

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 s
or P  F v [  v , average speed]
t
or P  Fv
 Power is a scalar quantity.
 The SI unit of power is watt (W). If 1 joule of work is done in 1 second, the power is said
to be 1 watt, i.e.,
1W  1J s 1
 The MKS unit of power is kg m 2 s 3 and its CGS unit erg s 1 . Horsepower is another unit
of power which is largely used in mechanical engineering.
1 HP = 746 W

ENERGY
 The energy of a body is its capacity to do work. It is a scalar quantity.
 The SI unit of energy is joule and its CGS unit is erg. The bigger units of energy are watt-
hour (Wh) and kilowatt-hour (kWh).
 Heat energy is usually measured in calorie (cal) or kilocalorie (kcal). 1 calorie is the energy
required for raising the temperature of 1 g of water through 1C .
 The energy of atomic particles being very small is measured in electron volt (eV).
1eV  1.6 1019 J
 The energy possessed by a body due to its state of rest or of uniform motion is called
mechanical energy. Potential energy and kinetic energy are of two types of mechanical
energy.
 The energy possessed by a body by virtue of its state of motion is called kinetic energy. It
is usually denoted by the letter K.
1
Kinetic energy   Mass  Velocity 2
2
1
or K  mv 2
2
 Relationship between Kinetic Energy and Momentum:
1
Kinetic energy, K  mv 2
2
p
Momentum, p  mv or v 
m
2
1  p p2
 K  m  
2 m 2m
p 2  2mK
p2
or p  2mK or K 
2m

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 Depending upon the type of motion, kinetic energy is of three types:
 The energy possessed by a body moving in a straight line is called translational kinetic
energy.
 The energy possessed by a body due to its rotation about an axis is called rotational
kinetic energy.
 The energy possessed by a body due to its vibrations, or motion, is called vibrational
kinetic energy.
 Work-energy theorem states that the work done by a force is equal to the increase in its
kinetic energy, i.e.,
Work done = Increase in kinetic energy
 The energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position or configuration is called potential
energy.
 Gravitational potential energy is the amount of work done in lifting a body to a height
against the force of gravity. If a given mass m is raised to a specific height h, its
gravitational potential energy is given by
U = mgh
 The gravitational potential energy of a body on the surface of earth is zero.
 According to the law of conservation of mechanical energy,
Potential energy = Kinetic energy
1
or mgh  mv 2
2
or 2gh  v 2
or v  2 gh
 When we stretch a spring, or a rubber band, the stretched spring, or the rubber band,
possesses a kind of potential energy, called elastic potential energy.
 The heat energy is that type of energy which is released when something is burnt.
 The energy possessed by fuels like gas, oil etc., is called chemical energy.
 Electromagnetic radiations which come from light in the visible spectrum is called light
energy.
 The energy possessed by a vibrating body is called sound energy.
 The energy possessed by a magnet is called magnetic energy.
 The energy produced when two dry objects are rubbed together is called electrical energy.
 The energy stored in the nucleus of an atom is called nuclear energy.
 The energy released in nuclear disintegrations in the interior of earth gets stored deep
inside the earth and is called geothermal energy.
 Energy generated from flowing water is called hydroelectricity.
 The energy produced by tides, i.e., periodic rise or fall of ocean water is called tidal energy.
 The kinetic energy associated with the movement of atmospheric air is called kinetic
energy.
 Law of conservation of energy states that the energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
It only changes from one form to another.

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 The sun, wind, water, agricultural residues, firewood, and biomass are examples of
renewable sources of energy.
 Fossil fuels, i.e., coal, petroleum and natural gas are non-renewable sources of energy.
 The run-of-the river hydroelectricity is a type of hydropower generation whereby the
natural flow and elevation drop of a river are used to generate electricity. This type of
power stations are built on rivers with a consistent and study flow, either natural or through
the use of large reservoir of the head of the river.
 The run-of-the river schemes are usually used for small scale hydro projects.
 Energy can be produced from waste in landfills and incinerators.
 Biomass is a conventional source of energy. It includes household waste, wood, agro-
waste, dry grass, animal dung etc.
 Biomass gasifiers convert agro-wastes into a clean and combustible gas. This method has
been used to produce electricity for rural areas.
 The sun is the ultimate source of energy. The energy obtained from the sun is called the
solar energy.
 Biogas is produced by anaerobic degradation of biomass. It is a cheap, clean and non-
polluting gas.
 The fuels that originated from the remains of dead plants and animals by the action of
natural processes are called fossil fuels. Burning of these fuels causes pollution. Natural
gas is the cleanest fossil fuel.
 The phenomenon of transformation of energy from useful form to useless form is known
as dissipation of energy.

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