Question

How does “work” in classical mechanics differ from “work” in everyday life?

Answer 1

The concept of work in classical mechanics is depends on some factors i.e, force, displacement and direction of motion relative to displacement. If any quantity among these has zero magnitude then it is said in classical science that no work has been done by the force.

But we in daily life work is independent of such quantities, it is neither positive nor negative.

Lets have some examples

If we apply force to a stationary room wall :

In classical science no work has been done because there is no displacement occur. But as per daily life definition as we get tired after this work, it means we did some hard work.

If a coolie carry a bag from from point of the station to other point

As per classical science there isn't any workdone by coolie because the displacement and force are perpendicular to each other. But in real life he done some work as we pay him according to the effort he put in to carry the luggage.

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