Charlie lifts a box with a force of 500 N and sets it on a table top 1.2 m above its starting position. Lauren pushes an identical box up a 5 m ramp from the floor to the top of the same table. Which person did more work?
a
The size of each girl needs to be known to find the answer.
b
Lauren did more work.
c
Charlie did more work.
d
Charlie and Lauren did the same amount of work.
The correct answer is d) Charlie and Lauren did the same amount of work.
Work is a measure of the energy transferred to an object when a force is applied to it and it moves in the direction of the force. Both Charlie and Lauren applied a force to lift their respective boxes and move them to the top of the table.
The work done by each person can be calculated using the formula: work = force x distance.
For Charlie:
force = 500 N
distance = 1.2 m
work = 500 N x 1.2 m = 600 J
For Lauren:
force = 500 N
distance = 5 m
work = 500 N x 5 m = 2500 J
Both Charlie and Lauren applied the same force of 500 N, but Charlie moved the box a shorter distance of 1.2 m, while Lauren moved the box a longer distance of 5 m. However, the amount of work done by each person is different because work also takes into account the distance over which the force is applied.
Therefore, even though Lauren moved the box a greater distance, both Charlie and Lauren did the same amount of work as determined by the work formula.