Can you explain to me what happens to the energy when you do work?
thanks
When I do work, like running 1 mile in less than 4 minutes, you see heavy breathing, faster breathing, sweating, much higher heart rate, muscles tired, etc. So the work I expend in running that mile shows up as increased CO2 in the air, faster metabolism, aching muscles, etc. Here is a site that explains it much better than I.
http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py105/Energy.html
thank you @DrBob222
Certainly! When you do work, the energy is transferred from one form to another.
To understand what happens to the energy, we need to start with the concept of work itself. Work is defined as the force applied to an object multiplied by the displacement of the object in the direction of the force. In equation form, it can be expressed as:
Work = Force x Displacement x cos(theta)
Where theta is the angle between the force vector and the displacement vector.
Now, let's consider an example: pushing a box across the floor. When you apply a force to the box and it moves a certain distance, you are doing work on the box. In this case, the energy from your muscles is being transferred to the box, causing it to move.
This energy transfer occurs because work is directly related to energy. Work is the transfer of energy from one object to another. When you apply a force to an object and it undergoes displacement, energy is transferred from the source of the force (in this case, your muscles) to the object being acted upon (the box).
The box now possesses the energy you transferred to it in the form of kinetic energy, which is the energy of an object due to its motion. Kinetic energy is given by the equation:
Kinetic Energy = 1/2 x mass x velocity^2
So, in this case, the energy you provided by doing work on the box is converted into kinetic energy as the box moves.
It's important to note that energy is never truly "lost" when you do work. According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, energy can be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. So, any energy you expend doing work is simply transferred to another object or converted into a different form of energy.
In summary, when you do work, the energy is transferred from the source of the force to the object upon which the force is applied. The energy can be converted into different forms, such as kinetic energy, but is never lost.