Work is a process by which energy can be transformed from one form to another or transferred from one object to another, due to the action of a force.
The work unit is Joule, \([w] = J\) .
It is important to note that the work is not a vector quantity, but a scalar.
You can find the following formulas for the work of the different mechanical forces:
For machines, it is interesting to measure the amount of work that they are able to produce per unit of time; this quantity is known as power. So, it is possible to know how long it takes for a machine to produce the desired effect.
Another important variable is the efficiency, because for a machine to do some work, first, it is necessary to supply power to the machine, or capacity to do work. There is always some loss in this process. The cost versus benefit of this process is given by the efficiency.
The quantities above can be defined as follows: