Work And Energy 6

Question

How much work does a supermarket checkout attendant do on a can of soup he pushes 0.510 m horizontally with a force of 5.30 N? Express your answer in joules and kilocalories.

 

J

 

kcal

Answer 1

Hi Dominic!

 

The definition of work is:

 

W = Fdcosα

 

where

 

F = force

d = displacement

α = angle between force and displacement

 

If the can moves horizontally in the same direction the attendant pushes, then the angle between the two is zero and cos(0) = 1, so 

 

W = Fd

 

Hope that helps!