Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Question 1: A force F pushes a ball as the ball moves a displacement s. The ball
Answer: it speeds up, since the work done by the force during the
displacement, F dot s, is positive
Question 2: A force F pushes a ball as the ball moves a displacement s. The ball
Answer: neither, since vectors F and s are perpendicular:
the dot product of F and s is zero.
Question 3: Estimate the work done on the ball due to the force as the ball moves as shown.
Answer: the work done on the ball by the force is
work = F dot s
= F * s * cos(angle between)
The angle between the vectors is about 110 degrees,
which is more than 90 degrees -- so the work done will
be negative.
= something between -15 Joules and 0 Joules
This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified Jan 29, 2002.
Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.