## Doing work vs work done

$\Delta U=q+w$

vanessas0123
Posts: 100
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:17 am

### Doing work vs work done

For w, when is it positive? Is it when work is being done on the system or when the work is being done by the system?

zfinn
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

when w is positive work is done on the system

Orrin Zhong 4G
Posts: 51
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

Work is positive when work is done on the system but it is negative when the system is doing work.

Shimei_2F
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

W is positive when work is being done ON the system and negative when the system is doing the work.

RasikaObla_4I
Posts: 100
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

Work is positive when it is being done on the system (eg. compression) while work is negative the system is doing work on the system (eg expansion).

Aarushi Solanki 4F
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

w is positive when work is done on the system and w is negative when the system does work.

Daniel Yu 1E
Posts: 100
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

W for the system is negative when the system does work. W for the system is positive if work is done on the system.

EllieSchmidtke_4I
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

Doing work on the system results in a positive w value, whereas the system doing work results in a negative w value.

Owen-Koetters-4I
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:16 am

### Re: Doing work vs work done

work is positive when it is done on the system and negative when it is done by the system