59 Doing Work-High

Doing Work Written by Ned Jensen

Introduction "I have to do my work!" "Let's try to work harder!" "Work, work, work. That's all I do." Have you ever heard these sayings? They all have to do with work.

What Is Work? What is work? In everyday life, we use the word work in many ways. Work can be a place where people get paid to do a job. We might say that our computer doesn't work if it is broken. A painting or a song can be called a work of art. You might even work out in a gym. But in science, work has a special meaning.

In science, work is the act of moving something. Think about the times you move things. When you play, you might make a ball or jump rope move. When you do chores, you might move a vacuum or some dishes. When you ride a bike, you move the pedals with your feet. In each of these activities, you do work.

There are lots of ways to do work. You do work when you push or pull a wagon down a street. Pushing and pulling are two ways to do work. You also do work when you lift books. Lifting is another way to do work. You even do work when you turn the pages of a book or twist a doorknob. As long as you are moving something, even if it's very easy, you are doing work.

So, is everything you do a kind of work? No, it is not. You don't do work when you try to move a boulder because the rock doesn't move. Something must move, or else you have not done any work. You also don't do work when you think.