Unit 3

Work, Energy, and Power

Chapter 6
Work and Energy
Work
● Physics definition of work:
● Mechanical transfer of energy to or from a
system by a force on an object undergoing a
displacement
● Is work being done when…
○ Mr. Finder picks up a book?
○ Mr. Finder holds a book horizontally out?
○ Mr. Finder drops the book?
● Work in physics is not about effort
Another example
● Mr. Finder carries the book across the room
● Is work done?
● Work is done only by the component of force
in the same direction as the displacement
Calculating Work (cont.)
More about work
● Symbol is W (duh)
● Not a vector!
● Unit?
○ N·m = J (joule)
○ 1 Joule is the work required to lift a 1-N object a
vertical distance of 1 m
Ch 6 #7(a)
What is the minimum work needed to push a
1000-kg car 300 m up a 17.5° incline?
 Work is not a vector but it can be
Sign of work positive or negative!

● Work done by this force is positive

Sign of work, cont.

● Work done by this force is negative

● What about the normal force on the car?
Work done by varying force
● IMPORTANT FOR AP TEST
● Work is also area under F-d curve!
AP MC Question
A student uses a spring scale to exert a horizontal force on a block,
pulling the block over a smooth floor. The student repeats the
procedure several times, each time pulling the block from rest
through a distance of 1.0 m. For which of the following graphs of
force as a function of distance is the largest work done?

A. C.

B. D.
Total work
● The sum of the individual works!
● Example:
Find the work done by gravity, normal force, and friction
on the block as it slides down the ramp.
Total work done on the block?
m=2
.00 k
g d=1
μ=0 .50 m
.200

θ = 14.0°
Example
Find the work done by gravity, normal force, and
friction on the block as it slides down the ramp.

m=2
.00 k
g d=1
μ=0 .50 m
.200

θ = 14.0°

What is the total work done on the block?

Work-energy theorem
● Let’s further examine the definition of work...

● ½ mv2 is defined to be kinetic energy

● Work done by a net force changes an object’s
kinetic energy
● As an implication of Newton’s laws, this is only
valid in inertial reference frames
Today’s lab task:
Find an experimental value for the kinetic friction
coefficient between a ramp and physics textbook.
You must determine the friction coefficient using
a graph of your collected data.
SLS #7(b)
What is the minimum work needed to push a
1000-kg car 300 m up a 17.5° incline? Assume
the effective coefficient of friction is 0.25.
SLS #9
Eight books, each 4.6 cm thick with mass 1.8 kg
lie flat on a table. How much work is required to
stack them one on top of another?
SLS #13(a)
The x-component of the force on an object varies
as shown in the figure. Determine the work done
by this force to move the object from x = 0.0 to x=
10.0 m.
SLS #24
If the speed of a car is increased by 50%, by
what factor will its minimum braking distance be
increased, assuming all else is the same. Ignore
the driver’s reaction time.
Warm up
A 0.145-kg baseball is thrown with a speed of
25m/s.
How much work was done on the ball to make it
reach this speed, if it started from rest?
How much work is required to bring it to rest?
Kinetic energy of an object equals the work
required to bring it to rest.
Lifting an object against gravity
● How much work is done by gravity on an
object of mass m lifted through a distance y?
● How much work is done by gravity on an
object of mass m pushed a distance d up a
ramp inclined at θ?
● This is indicative of a conservative force
○ Work done by conservative forces is path independent
○ Only beginning and ending points matter
Work done by conservative forces
● What does the work-energy theorem say?
● We can regain lost KE by letting an object
return to its starting position
○ Physicists don’t consider this KE lost
○ It’s merely “stored” → potential energy
● Energy stored in a system by the virtue of the
relative positions of its constituent objects
Gravitational potential energy
● How much KE is lost by a tossed object?
○ KE lost = Work done by gravity = PE gained
● Do we have a way of calculating the force?
● How do we describe the object’s
displacement?
Elastic potential energy
● Based on Hooke’s Law: Fs = -kx
● How much work is done
when a spring is
stretched?
Slope = -k
Work and potential energy
● All conservative forces have an associated
potential function
● This allows us to begin analyzing scenarios
using energy alone!
● Potential energy is not “absolute”
● Only changes are meaningful
James Clerk Maxwell on energy:
“We must therefore regard the energy of a material
system as a quantity of which we may ascertain the
increase or diminution as the system changes from
one definite condition to another. The absolute value
of the energy in the standard condition is unknown to
us, and it would be of no use to us if we did know it,
as all phenomena depend on variations of energy
and not on its absolute value.”
Warm up
A 0.520-kg wooden block is attached to a
horizontal spring (k=180 N/m). It is observed that
when the spring is compressed 5.0 cm and
released, the block reaches 2.3 cm beyond the
equilibrium position before stopping and turning
back. What is the coefficient of friction between
the block and the table?
Kinetic and potential energy
● Together these comprise the mechanical
energy of a system

Mechanical energy
Conservation of energy
● Energy cannot be created or destroyed blah,
blah, blah
○ So what?
● When only conservative forces act on a
system, mechanical energy is constant!
Example #1
A spring loaded toy gun is used to launch a 10 g
plastic ball. The spring, which has a spring
constant of 10 N/m, is compressed by 10 cm as
the ball is pushed into the barrel. When the
trigger is pulled, the spring is released and
shoots the ball back out. What is the ball’s speed
as it leaves the barrel? Assume friction is
negligible.
Inclusion of nonconservative forces
● Energy methods are still useful!
● Remember, total work is the sum of all works
done on an object

Work done on a system by

nonconservative forces changes the
mechanical energy of the system!
Example #2: Ch 5 #51(a)
A ski starts from rest and slides down a 20°
incline 100 m long. If the coefficient of friction is
0.090, what is the ski’s speed at the base of the
incline?
Warm up
A sled is initially given a shove up a frictionless
25.0° incline. It reaches a maximum vertical
height of 1.35 m higher than where it started.
What was its initial speed?
Today’s lab task:
Find an experimental value for the amount of energy
stored in the spring of a spring-loaded dynamics cart.
You must determine this using a graph of collected data.
In addition to the spring-loaded dynamics cart, you may
use a meterstick, timer, and set of hanging masses, but
that’s it!
Once you’ve found a value for the spring potential
energy, you can earn a bonus point for predicting how far
up an inclined track the cart will go before stopping.
SLS #33(a)
A 55-kg hiker starts at an elevation of 1600 m
and climbs to the top of a 3100-m peak. What is
the hiker’s change in potential energy?
SLS #34(a)
A spring of spring constant k is initially
compressed a distance xo from its unstretched
length. What is the change in potential energy if it
is then compressed to an amount x from its
unstretched length?
SLS #39(a)
A 75-kg trampoline artist jumps vertically upward
from the top of a platform with a speed of 5.0
m/s. How fast is he going as he lands on the
trampoline, 3.0 m below?
SLS #39(b)
A 75-kg trampoline artist jumps vertically upward
from the top of a platform with a speed of 5.0
m/s. If the trampoline behaves like a spring of
spring constant 5.2×104 N/m, how far does he
depress it?
SLS #40
A roller coaster, shown below, is pulled up to
point A where it and its screaming occupants are
released from rest. Assuming no friction,
calculate the speed at points B, C, and D.
Warm up
A 10-g pull-back car rolls to a stop along a
horizontal surface. How much energy is
dissipated by friction if the initial speed of the
pull-back car is 2.0 m/s?
If it takes the pull-back car 4.0 meters to roll to a
stop, what is the rolling friction coefficient?
Power
● Easy and not very important(?)
○ Little coverage on AP test
● “Rate at which energy transforms”
○ Rate at which work is done
Physics meme of the week:
Running power
Example #1
A bicyclist coasts down a 7.0° hill at a steady
speed of 5.0 m/s. Assuming a total mass of 75 kg
(bicycle plus rider), what must be the cyclist’s
power output to climb the same hill at the same
speed?
Example #2 (MCQ)
The thrust of a certain boat’s engine generates a power of
10kW as the boat moves at constant speed 10m/s through
the water of a lake. The magnitude of the drag force that is
exerted on the boat’s hull as it is moving through the water is
directly proportional to the boat's speed and is given by the
equation F=kv. The increase in power needed for the boat to
move through the lake at a constant speed of 12m/s is

A. 0 W B. 2000 W C. 4400 W

D. 12000 W E. 14400 W
SLS #52
A 90-kg crate, starting from rest, is pulled across
a floor with a constant horizontal force of 350 N.
For the first 15 m the floor is frictionless and for
the next 15 m the coefficient of friction is 0.30.
What is the final speed of the crate?
SLS #62
A driver notices that her 1000-kg car slows down
from 90 km/h to 70 km/h in about 6.0 s on the
level when it is in neutral. Approximately what
power (watts and hp) is needed to keep the car
traveling at a constant 80 km/h?
SLS #69
Squaw Valley ski area in California claims that its
lifts can move 47,000 people per hour. If the
average lift carries people about 200 m
(vertically) higher, estimate the maximum total
power needed?
SLS #65
A pump is to lift 8.00 kg of water per minute
through a height of 3.50 m. What output rating
(watts) should the pump motor have?
Gravitational potential energy, revisited

● We’ve previously assumed weight can be

calculated using Fg = mg
Gravitational potential energy, revisited

● Fg = mg is approximation that only works when

close to Earth’s surface
Gravitational potential energy, revisited

● What is Ug if r is very, very large?

● What happens to Ug when r decreases?
● What is the minimum speed required to
escape the gravitational pull of Earth?
● What is the total mechanical energy of a
satellite in circular orbit around Earth?
 Orbits by total mechanical energy

elliptical orbit elliptical orbit

(Earth at far focus) (Earth at near focus)

circular
orbit

parabolic
trajectory
SLS #74
In a film of Jesse Owens’s famous long jump in
the 1936 Olympics, it is observed that his center f
mass rose 1.1 m from launch point to the top of
the arc. What minimum speed did he need at
launch if he was also noted to be traveling at 6.5
m/s at the top of the arc?
SLS #75(b)
A 0.20-kg pinecone falls from a branch 18 m
above the ground. If it hits the ground with a
speed of 10.0 m/s, what was the average force of
air resistance exerted on it?