What is the relationship between work and kinetic energy?
The work done on a system increases its *total* energy (and conversely, the work done by a system decreases its total energy. This increase or decrease is linearly related to the work done. If no other energy is transferred to of from the object, we can write: delta-E = w where w is the work done *on* the system (w is negative is work is done *by* the system), and delta-E is the change in total energy of the system. The change in energy need not show up as a change in kinetic energy, though, because the total energy of a system is the sum of its potential and kinetic energies: E = KE + PE and the change in total energy is the sum of the changes in kinetic and potential energies: delta-E = delta-KE + delta-PE So: w = delta-KE + delta-PE. The change in energy due to the work can show up as either a change in kinetic energy, a change in potential energy, or some combination of the two. For instance, a force applied an object over some horizontal distance won’t in general, change the poten
