Basic definition of work, the product of a force moving an object through a distance; in its original conceptual form, a weight lifted through a height, as in the lifting of water out of a flooded coal mine. |
Motive power = weight ∙ height
“The name of work is defined as the product of a weight carried, multiplied by the distance from transport, or in general the product of an area covered, multiplied by a force directed perpendicular to this space; it is necessary to consider only the effort is exerted in the direction of the area covered.”
“The integral ∫ PdS, PdS the product of the tangential component of the force F by the infinitesimal arc ds described by its point of application, is called the amount of work due to this force F . The PdS product is the element of work at the same strength.”
W = F ∙ d
“All of the practitioners today understand by the vis viva (living force) the work which the velocity acquired by a body is capable of doing.”