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Thermodynamic work is one of the principal kinds of process by which a thermodynamic system can interact with and transfer energy to its surroundings. This results in externally measurable macroscopic forces on the system's surroundings, which can cause mechanical work, to lift a weight, for example, [1] or cause changes in electromagnetic, [2] [3] [4] or gravitational [5] variables.
In science, work is the energy transferred to or from an object via the application of force along a displacement.In its simplest form, for a constant force aligned with the direction of motion, the work equals the product of the force strength and the distance traveled.
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. The power at any point along the curve C is the time derivative: = = =.
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.
Transfers of energy as work, or as heat, or of matter, between the system and the surroundings, take place through the walls, according to their respective permeabilities. Matter or energy that pass across the boundary so as to effect a change in the internal energy of the system need to be accounted for in the energy balance equation.
The generalized force, X, corresponding to the external variable x is defined such that is the work performed by the system if x is increased by an amount dx. For example, if x is the volume, then X is the pressure. The generalized force for a system known to be in energy eigenstate is given by:
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: =
Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work — for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs). Machinery able to exploit wave power is generally known as a wave energy converter (WEC).