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The ancient Greek understanding of physics was limited to the statics of simple machines (the balance of forces), and did not include dynamics or the concept of work. During the Renaissance the dynamics of the Mechanical Powers, as the simple machines were called, began to be studied from the standpoint of how far they could lift a load, in addition to the force they could apply, leading ...
If the force F is derivable from a potential (conservative), then applying the gradient theorem (and remembering that force is the negative of the gradient of the potential energy) yields: = (), where A and B are the beginning and end of the path along which the work was done.
There are various types of potential energy, each associated with a particular type of force. For example, the work of an elastic force is called elastic potential energy; work of the gravitational force is called gravitational potential energy; work of the Coulomb force is called electric potential energy; work of the strong nuclear force or weak nuclear force acting on the baryon charge is ...
The SI unit of force is the newton (symbol N), which is the force required to accelerate a one kilogram mass at a rate of one meter per second squared, or kg·m·s −2.The corresponding CGS unit is the dyne, the force required to accelerate a one gram mass by one centimeter per second squared, or g·cm·s −2. A newton is thus equal to ...
Work, a function of energy, is force times distance. = This says that the work is equal to the line integral of the force F along a path C; for details see the mechanical work article. Work and thus energy is frame dependent. For example, consider a ball being hit by a bat.
Every conservative force has a potential energy. By following two principles one can consistently assign a non-relative value to U: Wherever the force is zero, its potential energy is defined to be zero as well. Whenever the force does work, potential energy is lost.
In modern terminology, "dead force" and "living force" correspond to potential energy and kinetic energy respectively. [133] Conservation of energy was not established as a universal principle until it was understood that the energy of mechanical work can be dissipated into heat.
The potential energy, U, depends on the position of an object subjected to gravity or some other conservative force. The gravitational potential energy of an object is equal to the weight W of the object multiplied by the height h of the object's center of gravity relative to an arbitrary datum: =