Work

[Leewon Koo 2K]

Hello!
I'm having trouble understanding if work is being done by something or if it is in relation to the surroundings. When would work be negative and in relation to what would it be negative?
Thanks!

[Ethan Liang 1A]

Hi. Work can be done both by something and on something. Work is positive when it's done on a system and work is negative when the system does work on something in its surroundings.

[Allie Kinsey 3H]

Hi, so when calculating for work and we use the equation that includes "the sum of" I'm confused what we are adding together. Not sure if that is a dumb question, but does someone help?
Thanks

[Gavin_Yang_1J]

To add onto prior answers the reason why work is negative when a system does work on its surroundings is because the system will lose energy if it does work on its surroundings. The negative/positive work is in the perspective of the system.