Re: Introducing WORK

[Ludwik Kowalski <kowalskiL@Mail.Montclair.edu>]

Brian McInnes wrote:

> Work is a quantity that is associated with the process; it describes
> the energy transferred in the process. It is NOT a quantity that
> is associated with the body or the system. It does not exist
> independently of the process (as many of the quantities listed - viscosity,
> temperature, reflectivity - do).

An interesting (profound?) distinction. Kinetic energy is probably
"one-body-related" while gravitational-potential energy is not.
What about the potential energy of a compressed spring?

Spin is associated with a turning object but the torque which
controls it is process-related.  The same goes for the acceleration
along a straight line versus the net force (or pressure) responsible
for it.  Mass is an intrinsic quantity associated with an object.
But somebody may say it is also a process-related quantity (via
the law of universal gravitation). A distinction between internal
and external forces also comes to mind in this context.

Just reflecting on the usefulness of this classification.
Ludwik Kowalski