Climbing a staircase involves force and displacement, meeting the scientific criteria for work, but in everyday life, work is often seen as productive tasks, not just physical exertion.
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In science, work is defined as the force applied to an object causing its displacement in the direction of the force.
In the context of pushing a pebble, work is defined as the force exerted on the pebble that causes it to be displaced over a distance.
When you push a pebble lying on a surface, the pebble moves through a distance. You exert a force on the pebble, causing it to be displaced. In this situation, work is done.
The scientific definition of work requires a force causing a displacement, whereas the everyday understanding of work involves any physical effort or energy expenditure, regardless of whether there is displacement.
No work is done on the load when you stand still with it on your head because there is no displacement of the load in the direction of the force you are applying.
Standing still for a few minutes with a heavy load on your head results in tiredness and expenditure of energy, but no work is done on the load according to the scientific definition.
According to the scientific definition of work, no work has been done on the rock if it does not move, as work requires displacement in the direction of the force applied.
When you push a huge rock that does not move, you get completely exhausted, but no work is done on the rock because there is no displacement.
Yes, an example of an activity that would be considered ‘work’ scientifically is pushing a box across the floor, where the force applied to the box results in its displacement.