Work (physics) - Work and Energy

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,

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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.

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