Chapter 5

Work and Energy

5.1 Work

You probably define work as something that expends some of your energy. Typing
up a paper, or writing out a homework assignment is considered work as are more
physically demanding tasks such as building furniture or moving heavy objects. In
physics, work has a very specific definition that involves motion and forces. Work is
done by a force only if that force causes a net displacement of the object. There are
two key points here: a force is only responsible for motion if it is in the same direction
as that motion, so forces that are perpendicular to motion do not result in work, and
there must be a net displacement or no work has been done. The mathematical
definition of work done on an object is W = F ∆x cos θ (5.1) where F is the force
applied to the object, ∆x is the displacement, θ is the angle between the force and
the direction of motion, and W is the work. Work is measured in units of joules
(joule ). Note that if the force is doubled, work is doubled or if the object is displaced
twice as far, then work is also doubled. Work is a scalar quantity — it has a
magnitude, but no direction. Work can, however, be positive or negative; it’s negative
when the applied force is opposite to the direction of motion. 36 Example: Work on a
block A block of mass m = 2.50 kg is pushed a distance d = 2.20 m along a
frictionless horizontal table by a constant applied force of magnitude F = 16.0 N
directed at an angle θ = 25.0 ◦ below the horizontal. Determine the work done by (a)
the applied force, (b) the normal force exerted by the table, (c) the force of gravity,
and (d) the net force on the block. Solution: (a) The applied force has both horizontal
and vertical components, but because the motion is entirely horizontal, only the
horizontal component contributes to the force. W = F d cos θ W = (16.0 N)(2.20 m)
cos(−25.0 ◦ ) W = 32 J. (b) The normal force is perpendicular to the motion, so it does
not do any work. (c) The force of gravity is also perpendicular to the motion, so it also
does no work. (d) We could calculate the net force by vectorially adding the normal
force, the applied force and the force of gravity and then find the work done by that
force. Or we can save ourselves some effort by remembering that only forces along
the direction of motion contribute to the work. The only force that has a horizontal
component is the applied force, and we found the work due to that force in part (a).

5.2 Kinetic energy

Energy is an indirectly observed quantity that measures an object’s capacity to do

work. Energy comes in many different forms and can easily change from one form to
another, but the total amount of energy in the universe (or in an isolated system)
stays the same. That means that energy is a conserved quantity. The concept of
energy provides an alternative formulation for Newton’s laws. An object’s energy
determines it’s potential to do work and the work it can do is related to the net force
exerted by the object. Wnet = Fnet∆x = ma∆x. If the force is constant, the
acceleration is also constant and we can use kinematics equations, namely, v 2 − V 2 0
= 2a∆x a∆x = v 2 − v 2 0 2 . We can substitute this into the work equation, Wnet = m
_x0012_ v 2 − v 2 0 2 (5.2) Wnet = 1 2 mv2 − 1 2 mv2 0 . This equation tells us that
the net work done on an object leads to a change in a quantity of the form 1 2mv2 .
This term is called the kinetic energy of the object and it is the energy of the motion
of the object. The equation tells us that any net work done on an object leads to a
change in its kinetic energy and for this reason, the equation is known as the work-
energy theorem. It’s important to realize that this is just an alternative formulation of
Newton’s second law — two different ways of looking at the same process. Both
Newton’s second law and the work-energy theorem tell us that interacting with an
object in a certain way (by applying a force in Newton’s view, or doing work in the 37
energy view) will lead to changes in the object’s velocity. Why do we need two ways
to describe the same process? It is sometimes more convenient to use one
formulation over the other when solving problems. The energy formulation uses
scalars rather than vectors, which can be easier for calculations, but it is sometimes
hard to determine the net work done on an object without considering forces.
Example: Stopping a ship A large cruise ship of mass 6.50 × 107 kg has a speed of
12.0 m/s at some instant. (a) What is the ship’s kinetic energy at this time? (b) How
much work is required to stop it? (c) What is the magnitude of the constant force
required to stop it as it undergoes a displacement of 2.5 km? Solution: (a) We know
the ship’s initial speed and we know that the ship’s kinetic energy is determined by its
speed, K0 = 1 2 mv2 K0 = 1 2 (6.50 × 107 kg)(12.0 m/s)2 K0 = 4.7 × 109 J. (b) We
want the ship’s final velocity (and also its kinetic energy) to be 0. The work-energy
theorem tells us how much work is required to change an object’s kinetic energy, W =
Kf − K0 W = −4.7 × 109 J. (c) Remember that work is done by a force acting on an
object that travels some distance. The force slowing down the ship in this case is the
drag or friction force of the water. Remember that friction is always opposite to the
direction of motion so θ = 180◦ . W = F ∆x cos θ F = W ∆x cos θ F = −4.7 × 109 J
2500 m cos(180◦) F = 1.9 × 106 N. 5.2.1 Conservative and nonconservative forces
Forces can be broken up into two types: conservative and non-conservative.
Conservative forces are forces where you can easily get back the energy you put into
system. Gravity is one example of a conservative force. If you lift a book, you will be
doing work against gravity to raise that book. As you lower the book, the book is now
doing work on you (the normal force still points the same way, but the motion is in
the opposite direction, so work is negative) and you will recover all the energy you
put into the book to lift it. A nonconservative force converts energy of objects into
heat or sound — forms of energy that are hard to convert back to motion. Friction is
one example of a nonconservative force — you can’t recapture the energy lost to
friction simply by moving the object back to where it started (like we did when we
lowered the textbook). The proper physics definition of a conservative force is “A
force is conservative if the work it does moving an object between two points is the
same no matter what path is taken.” 38 This is based on the idea that, for
conservative forces, we can get back the energy we put in simply by moving the
object back to its starting point. We can re-write the work energy theorem to
specifically separate these two types of forces, Wnc + Wc = ∆KE, (5.3) where we’ve
separated the work done on the object into two parts: the work done by conservative
forces and the work done by nonconservative forces.

5.3 Gravitational potential energy

Conservative forces have the nice property that they essentially “store” energy based
on their position. When you lift a book, you’ve done some work on that book and put
energy into the book. You can get that energy back by lowering the book, or you can
convert that energy to something else (like kinetic energy) by letting go of the book.
The book is said to have potential energy because it now has the potential to do work
on another object. Let’s figure out how much work is done by gravity as a book of
mass m falls from yi to yf . Remember that the formula for work is W = F ∆x cos θ.
The force of gravity is Fg = −mg, the displacement is ∆x = yf − yi , and the angle
between them is θ = 0. So we have, Wg = −mg(yf − yi). (5.4) Assuming we have no
other conservative forces, we can explicitly put the effect of gravity into the work-
energy theorem, Wnc + Wg = ∆KE Wnc = ∆KE + mg(yf − yi) (5.5) Wnc = ∆KE + ∆P E.
Note that when you are using the work-energy theorem, it does not matter what you
choose as your reference point for measuring the height of an object. It is only
changes in height (and therefore changes in gravitational potential energy) that
matter and the the actual value of the potential energy at an one point. In the
absence of any nonconservative forces (which will be the case in most of your
homework problems), we have 0 = ∆KE + ∆P E (5.6) KEi + P Ei = KEf + P Ef . This is a
conservation law — it tells us that the total amount of kinetic energy and potential
energy (sometimes called mechanical energy) for a particular system stays the same
all the time. The amount of kinetic energy and potential energy might change as the
object moves, but if you add the energies together, you will always get the same
number. A ball sitting on the top of a hill has lots of gravitational potential energy
and no kinetic energy. As it starts to roll down, it’s potential energy decreases, but it’s
kinetic energy increases. When it gets to the bottom of the hill, it has no more
potential energy, but lots of kinetic energy. So the amount of each type of energy
changes, but the total will always be the same. 39 Example: Platform diver A diver of
mass m drops from a board 10.0 m above the water’s surface. Neglect air resistance.
(a) Find his speed 5.0 m above the water’s surface. (b) Find his speed as he hits the
water. Solution: (a) When solving problems dealing with gravitational potential
energy, we need to set a reference point (it doesn’t matter where the reference point
is, we just need to be consistent for all measurements). Let’s choose the bottom of
the diving board as y = 0. We are told that the diver “drops” from the board, so v0 =
0 which means that his kinetic energy is KEi = 0. The initial position of the diver is at
the top of the board where his gravitational potential energy is P Ei = mgyi . The
conservation of mechanical energy tells us, KEi + P Ei = KEf + P Ef 0 + mgyi = 1 2 mv2
f + mgyf vf = q 2g(yi − yf ) vf = p 2(9.8 m/s 2)(10.0 m − 5.0 m) vf = 9.90 m/s. (b) We
use the same procedure as for part (a), but with a different end point where yf = 0.
KEi + P Ei = KEf + P Ef 0 + mgyi = 1 2 mv2 f + 0 vf = p 2gyi vf = p 2(9.8 m/s 2)(10.0
m) vf = 14.0 m/s. 40 Example: Waterslides Der Stuka is a waterslide at Six Flags in
Dallas named for the German dive bombers of World War II. It is 21.9 m high. (a)
Determine the speed of a 60.0 kg woman at the bottom of such a slide, assuming no
friction is present. (b) If the woman is clocked at 18.0 m/s at the bottom of the slide,
find the work done on the woman by friction. Solution: (a) Let’s choose the bottom of
the slide as y = 0. We can assume that the woman starts from rest, so v0 = 0 which
means that her kinetic energy is KEi = 0 at the top of the slide. The initial position of
the woman is at the top of the board where her gravitational potential energy is P Ei
= mgyi . We are interested in the final position where her height is yf = 0 and so her
gravitational potential energy is P Ef = 0. The conservation of mechanical energy tells
us, KEi + P Ei = KEf + P Ef 0 + mgyi = 1 2 mv2 f + 0 vf = p 2gyi vf = p 2(9.8 m/s 2)
(21.9 m) vf = 20.7 m/s. (b) In this case we have to use the full work-energy theorem,
Wnc = KEf − KEi + P Ef − P Ei Wnc = 1 2 mv2 f − 0 + 0 − mgyi Wnc = 1 2 (60.0 kg)
(18.0 m/s)2 − (60.0 kg)(9.8 m/s 2 )(21.9 m) Wnc = −3.16 × 103 J. Note that the work
done by friction is negative because the woman is losing her energy to friction.

5.4 Spring potential

energy When you compress or stretch a string, you have to apply a force and
therefore do some work on the spring. When you move the spring back to its original
position, that energy is given back to you. Like gravity, the spring force is a
conservative force — any energy you put into the spring when it is stretched or
compressed is returned when the spring moves back to its original position. Springs
exert a force on an object when they are stretched or compressed and the more you
stretch or compress the spring, the larger the force trying to return the spring to its
original position. So the force exerted by a spring is proportional to the displacement,
Fs = −k∆x, (5.7) where k is a proportionality constant called the spring constant (units
of newtons per meter). This constant is different for each spring. This equation is
often called Hooke’s law after Robert Hooke who discovered the relationship. In the
case of a spring, we measure the displacement from the equilibrium position of the
spring. That is x = 0 is the point at which the spring is neither compressed nor
stretched. The spring force is sometimes called a restoring force because it tries to
return the spring to equilibrium. Calculating the work done by a spring is not as
straightforward as calculating the work done by gravity because the size of the spring
force changes as the displacement changes (remember the force of gravity is the
same no matter the height of the object). The work done by the spring force when an
object moves from 41 xi to xf is Ws = −( 1 2 kx2 f − 1 2 kx2 i ). (5.8) We can include
this in the work-energy theorem (if there is a spring involved in our system) as part of
the work done by conservative forces, Wnc = ∆KE + ∆P Eg + ∆P Es, (5.9) where the
potential energy of a spring is 1 2 kx2 . Example: Block on a spring A block with mass
of 5.00 kg is attached to a horizontal spring with spring constant k = 4.00 × 102 N/m.
The surface the block rests upon is frictionless. If the block is pulled out to xi = 0.05 m
and released, (a) find the speed of the block when it first reaches the equilibrium
point. (b) Find the speed when x = 0.025 m, and (c) repeat part (a) if friction acts on
the block with coefficient µk = 0.150. Solution: (a) In the first part of the problem
there is no friction, so there aren’t any nonconservative forces and the work-energy
theorem can be written as KEi + P Egi + P Esi = KEf + P Egf + P Esf . We can simplify
this a little more by realizing that all the action takes place at the same height, so
there are no changes in gravitational potential energy and we can remove that from
the equation, KEi + P Esi = KEf + P Esf . The problem states that the block is
“released” at a certain point — this means that the initial velocity is vi = 0. So the
initial kinetic energy is also 0. The final position of the object is at the equilibrium
point (xf = 0), so the spring potential energy at this point is also 0. 0 + 1 2 kx2 i = 1 2
mv2 f + 0 vf = r kx2 i m vf = s (4.00 × 102 N/m)(0.05 m)2 5.00 kg vf = 0.45 m/s. (b)
This time we’re asked for the velocity at a non-equilibrium point. The method we use
is still the same, we just have a non-zero final potential energy, 0 + 1 2 kx2 i = 1 2
mv2 f + 1 2 kx2 f vf = s k(x 2 i − x 2 f ) m vf = s (4.00 × 102 N/m)[(0.05 m)2 − (0.025
m)2] 5.00 kg vf = 0.39 m/s. 42 (c) Now we add friction, so we will need to consider
the energy lost to this nonconservative force. First we need to find the magnitude of
the frictional force, so we need a free-body diagram of the block. The block has four
forces acting on it: gravity pulling down, the normal force pushing up, the spring
force pulling towards equilibrium, and the force of friction pulling away from
equilibrium. There is no acceleration in the y direction, so we must have XFy = 0 N −
mg = 0 N = mg. We know that the frictional force is related to the normal force, fk =
µkN fk = µkmg. The work done by friction then is Wf = fk∆x cos θ Wf = −µkmgxi .
The work-energy theorem now has to include the nonconservative work, Wnc = ∆KE
+ ∆P Es −µkmgxi = 1 2 mv2 f − 1 2 kx2 i vf = r kx2 i m − 2µkgxi vf = s (4.00 × 102
N/m)(0.05 m)2 5.00 kg − 2(0.150)(9.8 m/s 2)(0.05 m) vf = 0.230 m/s. 43 Example:
Circus acrobat A 50.0 kg circus acrobat drops from a height of 2.0 m straight down
onto a springboard with a force constant of 8.00 × 103N/m By what maximum
distance does she compress the spring? Solution: There aren’t any nonconservative
forces in this problem, but spring potential, gravitational potential and kinetic energy
all play a role. In this problem, we need to be very clear about how we are measuring
distances because there are two displacements that are relevant: her change in height
and the compression of the spring. Let’s set y = 0 to be the point of maximum spring
compression and let’s call the distance that the spring compresses d. We will call the
acrobat’s height above the uncompressed springboard h. Now let’s use the work-
energy theorem, KEi + P Egi + P Esi = KEf + P Egf + P Esf 0 + mg(h + d) + 0 = 0 + 0 +
1 2 kd2 1 2 kd2 − mgd − mgh = 0. We have a quadratic equation and will need to use
the quadratic formula, d = mg ± p m2g 2 + 2kmgh k d = mg k 1 ± s 1 + 2kh mg ! d =
0.56 m (−0.44). 5.4.1 Power Power is the rate at which energy is transferred from one
object to another. Remember that work is the amount of energy transferred from one
object to another, so the average power will be the amount of work done over some
period of time, P = W ∆t . (5.10) The unit of power is the Watt (W) or joule/second
(J/s). We can write the power in another form by using the definition of work W = F
∆x cos θ, P = F ∆x cos θ ∆t (5.11) P = Fv cos θ. We can generalize this equation (if we
use calculus) to get an equation for the instantaneous power, P = F v cos θ, (5.12)
where P and v are the instantaneous power and velocity rather than the average
power and velocity. 44 Example: Shamu Killer whales are able to accelerate up to 30
mph in a matter of seconds. Neglecting the drag force of water, calculate the average
power a killer whale with mass 8.00 × 103 kg would need to generate to reach a
speed of 12.0 m/s in 6.00 s. Solution: To find the power needed by the whale, we
need to figure out how much work the whale has to do to reach a speed of 12.0 m/s.
We do not know the magnitude of the force needed to generate this acceleration, so
we can’t use the definition of work. (We also can’t find the acceleration using
kinematics because we can’t assume constant acceleration). The other option is to use
the work-energy theorem, Wnet = ∆KE Wnet = 1 2 mv2 f − 0 Wnet = 1 2 (8.00 × 103
kg)(12.0 m/s)2 Wnet = 5.76 × 105 J. We know the elapsed time, so we can use the
equation defining average power, P = W ∆t P = 5.76 × 105 J 6.00 s P = 9.6 × 104 W.
You might be wondering why we did not use the equation P = Fv cos θ. That
equation uses the average velocity and we are given the final velocity. We can’t find
the average velocity without assuming constant acceleration, which we can’t do in
this case.