Work, Power and

Dr. Claire Egret

Energy Relationships
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Introduction
Work
Force application over a distance

Power
Amount of mechanical work performed in a
given time

Energy
The capacity to do work or sustain power

Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is mechanical work?

the product of a force applied against a

resistance and the displacement of
the resistance in the direction of the
force

W = Fd
units of work are Joules (J)
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Work
When the muscles of the human body
produce tension resulting in the motion of
a body segment, the muscles perform
work on the body segment.

Example : Athlete bench presses mass of

40kg over distance of 0.3m (up phase),
Calculate the work.
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Work
The mechanical work performed may be
characterized as either positive or negative
work.
When both the net torque and the direction of
the motion are in the same direction, the work
done by the muscles is said to be positive.
Performing positive mechanical work typically
requires greater caloric expenditure than
performing the same amount of negative
mechanical work.
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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is mechanical power?
the rate of work production
calculated as work divided by the time
over which the work was done
W

P= t
units of work are Watts (W)
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Problem
A 580N person runs up a flight of 30 stairs
of rise (height) of 25cm during a 15s
period.
How much mechanical work is done?
How much mechanical power is
generated?

Measurement of Work and

Power
The term ergometry refers to the
measurement of work output.
Ergometer refers to the apparatus or
device used to measure a specific type of
work.
One of the earliest ergometers used to
measure work capacity in humans was the
bench step.
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Measurement of Work and Power

Bench Step

Suppose a 70kg man steps up and down on a 50cm bench

during 10 minutes at a rate of 30 steps per minute.
Calculate the work and the power.
Work = force x distance
= mg x distance
= 70 x 10 x (0.5 x 30 x 10)
= 105000 joules
= 105 kilojoules
Power = work minutes
= 105000 / (10 x 60)
= 175 W

Measurement of Work and Power

Cycle Ergometer
Suppose a 70 kg man performed cycle ergometer
exercise during 10 minutes and applied 20N on the
pedals.
If you know that:
- distance traveled per pedal revolution = 6m
- pedaling speed = 60 revolutions per minutes
Calculate the work and the power developed by this
man.
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Example
Work = force (kg) x distance (m)
= 20 x (6 x 60 x 10)
= 20 x 3600
= 72000 Joules or 72 kilojoules

Power = work minutes

= 72000 / (10 x 60)
= 120 W
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Measurement of Work and Power

Treadmill
Incline of the treadmill is expressed in percent
grade
Percent grade is the amount of vertical rise
per 100 units of belt travel
For example, a subject walking on a treadmill
at a 5% grade travels 5 meters vertically for
every 100 meters of the belt travel.
Vertical displacement = % grade x Distance 12

Determination of Percent Grade

on a Treadmill

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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is mechanical energy?
the capacity to do work
units of energy are Joules (J)
there are two forms energy:
kinetic energy
potential energy
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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is kinetic energy?
energy of motion

KE = mv2 and KE = I2
What is potential energy?
energy by virtue of a bodys position or
configuration

PE = (wt)(ht)

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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is the law of conservation of
mechanical energy?
When gravity is the only acting external
force, a bodys mechanical energy
remains constant.

KE + PE = C
(where C is a constant - a number that
remains unchanged)
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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
Ht(m) PE(J)

Height, velocity,
potential energy,
and kinetic
energy changes
for a tossed ball.
Note:
PE + KE = C

V(m/s) KE(J)

3.0

29.4

2.5

24.5

3.1

4.9

2.0

19.6

4.4

9.8

1.5

14.7

5.4

14.7

1.0

9.8

6.3
Time

19.6

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Problem
A 2kg ball is dropped from a height of
1.5m. What is its velocity immediately
before impact with the floor?

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Work, Power, and Energy

Relationships
What is the principle of work and energy?
The work of a force is equal to the
change in energy that it produces in
the object acted upon.

W = KE + PE + TE

(where TE is thermal energy)

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Problem
How much mechanical work is required to
catch a 1.3kg ball traveling at a velocity of
40m/s?

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Example
The work-energy relationship is evident during
movements of the human body.
The arches in runners feet act as a mechanical
spring to store and subsequently return, strain
energy as they cyclically deform and then regain
their resting shapes.
Two-joint muscles in the human body also serve
to transfer mechanical energy from one joint to
another, thereby reducing the mechanical work
required of the muscles crossing the second joint
during a given movement.
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Conclusion
Approximately 25% of the energy
consumed by the muscles is converted
into work, with the remainder changed to
heat or used in the bodys chemical
processes

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