Physics

Define Work in Terms of Physics

Work means to do something in our everyday life but in science doing anything is not work. In science the term work represents a definite concept. A gateman guards a house all day long sitting at a place and can say he has done his work. These are recognized as work in our daily life but these are not work in the point of view of science.

The concept of work in science is different from that of daily life. In fact in science work is done when displacement is associated with force. We see many examples of work around us in our daily life. For example, bull pulls the plough; a laborer pushes forward a push cart, someone throws iron sphere is sports competition etc.

Work = Force x Distance travelled along the direction of force

If a force F is applied on a body and the body travels a distance s along the direction of force then the work done (W) will be,

W= Fs… … (1)

Work has no direction. It is a scalar quantity.

Dimension of Work:

Dimension of work will be the “dimension of force x dimension of displacement”

or, Work = Force x displacement

= mass x acceleration x displacement

= mass x [displacement/( time )2] x displacement

= mass x  [(displacement)2/(time)2]

or, W = ML2/T2

So, [W] = [ML2/T2]