What is Work, Force and Energy?

What is Work, Force and Energy?

Our daily lives involves numerous tasks, such as cleaning the house, working at a factory, or playing in a field. And all these activities involve several movements that need you to push or pull objects that may react differently.

These activities can either set an object in motion, shift its direction, change its shape or put that object back into the resting position. And this movement of push and pull applied on an object is called Force.
However, the force is different is every scenario and depends on many other elements that are divided into 2 categories, known as contact forces and non-contact force. What are they?

When 2 or more objects come in contact with each other during the interaction, the force is called a contact force. This contact force is further divided into various types, such as Applied force, Frictional force, Normal force etc.

And some examples of contact forces are a person pushing a huge wooden box, a person skating on a rough floor stopped by the friction, a table supporting a vase kept on it by exerting an upward force, and many more.

On the other hand, the non-contact force is the opposite of the contact force, meaning during a non-contact force, two objects don’t come into physical contact with each other during the interaction. The main types of non-contact force are Gravitational, Electrostatic, and Magnetic. Some of the examples of Non-contact force are an apple falling from a tree, a football kicked high in the air falling towards Earth, an iron nail attracted to a magnet, pieces of paper attracted towards your ruler or comb when rubbed. And to understand both the forces quantitatively, the force is measured in the unit, Newton (N).

It takes us to the next step of Force applied called Work. When a force is applied to an object, it results in the movement of an object, and when this happens, the work is said to be done. And even the work performed can differ in various forms. The work could be either positive, which means the force is in the same direction as the displacement of an object. Or it could be negative, which means the displacement of an object is opposite to the direction of the force applied. Or else, it could be zero, which means the force and displacement are perpendicular to each other in order words, there is no displacement of an object.

To understand the kind of work done, we calculate it using the formula Work = Force x Displacement. And the standard unit of measurement for work is Joule.

In order to apply force and perform the work, we need the ability to do it and that ability to perform the work is known as Energy. Without energy, you won’t be able to perform even the simple task. So it is essential to refill yourself by regular supply of energy that can be obtained from eating healthy food such as vegetables, fruits and nuts etc. That give you required strength to perform you daily work and keeps you healthy and wise.

Did you know, the gravitational force is one of the keeps the Earth orbiting around the sun? Also, Earth is like one strong bar magnet which has a magnetic north and south which the needle on a compass represents to.