Energy concepts: work, energy, power and potential.

Candidates should be able to:

(a) understand and use the concept of work in terms of the product of a force and a
displacement in the direction of that force, including situations where the force is not along
the line of motion;
(b) calculate the work done in situations where the force is a function of displacement using the
area under a force-displacement graph;
(c) calculate power from the rate at which work is done or energy is transferred;
(d) recall and use P = Fv;
(e) recall and use E = mgh for the gravitational potential energy transferred near the
Earths surface;
(f) recall and use gh as change in gravitational potential;
(g) recall and use % efficiency = useful energy (or power) out total energy (or power) in 100.

Worked examples:
Example 1: A dog pulls on a lead with a force of 25N (along the lead). Calculate the work done
by the dog as it moves 10m along the pavement when the lead makes an angle of 15 to the
horizontal. How much work is done by the person holding the lead?

work done by the dog = force (acting along displacement direction) x displacement

work
work
work
work

done
done
done
done

by
by
by
by

the dog = 25 x cos(15) x 10

the dog = 25 x 0.966 x 10
the dog = 241 J
its owner = -241 J

Example 2: A motor drives a pulley which lifts a box of mass 200 g at a steady speed of
4.0 ms-1. What is the power output of the motor?

power
power
power
power

=
=
=
=

force x velocity
weight x velocity
mass in kg x g x velocity
0.2 x 9.81 x 4.0 = 7.8 W

1) In the Rhinns of Islay lighthouse in Scotland, there are 131 steps to the light at the top. The
average height of each step is 23 cm. It takes the lighthouse keeper exactly two minutes to run
up all the steps. The mass of the keeper is 74 kg. What is the keepers average power? [1]
A 18.6 W

B 182 W

C 1.86 kW

D 18.2 kW

2) A dam is to be built across the Congo River in Africa. The water will fall through 150 m
providing energy to operate a power station. The rate at which the water falls is 26 400 m3s1.
What is the power delivered to the power station? Take the density of water as 1000 kg m3. [1]
A 0.0390 MW

B 259 MW

C 3960 MW

D 39 000 MW

3) A small electric motor is used to raise a weight of 2.0 N at constant speed through a vertical
height of 80 cm in 4.0 s. [1]

The efficiency of the motor is 20 %. What is the electrical power supplied to the motor?
A 0.080 W

B 0.80 W

C 2.0 W

D 200 W

4) Rain from a thunderstorm reaches the ground at a speed of 12 ms1. The graph shows how the
total mass of deposited rain increases with time.

What is the average power delivered by the rain as it hits the ground? [1]
A 1.0 106W

B 1.2 107W

C 2.4 107W

D 7.2 108W

5) A dog pulls on a lead with a force of 25 N. Calculate the work done by the dog as it moves
10m along the pavement when the lead makes an angle of 40 to the horizontal. How much
work is done by the person holding the lead? [4]
6) Draw a free body diagram for a block of mass 6.0 kg which is being pulled across a rough
horizontal table by a horizontal force of 30 N. The maximum frictional force which the table can
exert on the block is 20 N. What is the work done by each of the forces in a horizontal
displacement of 0.80 m? [8]
7) A skier is being pulled up a 20 slope by a drag lift. The pulling wire is at an angle of 15 to
the slope and the forces acting on the skier are:

The
The
The
The

pull of the drag wire, P = 320 N

perpendicular contact push of the snow, N = 620 N
fricitional push of the snow, F = 53 N
pull of the Earth, W = 750 N

(a) Calculate the work done by each force on the skier as she is dragged 30 m up the slope. [7]
(b) Hence show that the total work done on the skier is zero. [1]
8) A motor drives a pulley which lifts a box of mass 5.0 kg at a steady speed of 2.0 ms-1. What is
the power output of the motor? [3]
9) A hang glider and pilot have a combined mass of 92 kg. In flight, the glider moves forward at
20 ms-1 and sinks at a rate of 1.2 ms-1.
(a) Calculate the work done by the pull of the Earth on the hang glider in one minute. [4]
(b) Explain what happens to this energy. [1]
(c) What rate of working would be needed to maintain level flight? [1]
10) A student looks up a formula for the power P in a sea wave. He finds:

Where k is a dimensionless constant, is the density of sea water, h is the amplitude of the wave
(its height), g is the Earth's gravitational field strength, v the wave speed and I the length of the
wave being considered. Show that the student must have copied down the equation incorrectly
and suggest what the correct equation might look like. [10]