Work Question
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Work Question
Does anyone understand what exactly "work" is? I'm confused as to what the difference is between work and energy. Are they the same?
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Re: Work Question
Work and energy are different. Work refers to a way that energy can be transferred by a system to its surroundings. Energy is the capacity of a system to do work.
So if a system can do a lot of work, it possesses a lot of energy.
So if a system can do a lot of work, it possesses a lot of energy.
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Re: Work Question
Although the correlation is very similar, work refers to how the energy could be used/transferred and energy is the ability to do work. So just because a system has a lot of energy, it doesn't mean that work is being done because nothing may change or that energy isn't being used.
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Re: Work Question
To add, I think of Work being the ability to do something. For example, if the piston is moving out, that means the gas (system) is doing work because it is physically pushing the piston out of place.
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Re: Work Question
When I think of work, I think of the amount of energy transferred from one form to another in order to do something. Some keywords that help when determining work are: work being done (positive), does/doing (negative).
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