Asked by Makayla
work being done in the following example?
A wind pushing a sailboat
Work is being done.
No work is being done.
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
Work is being done.
Reason: work = ∫F · ds. The wind exerts a force on the sail and the boat moves, so the force has a nonzero component along the displacement and thus does positive work on the boat (increasing its kinetic energy and supplying energy dissipated by drag, waves, etc.).
Notes / exceptions:
- If the boat were held fixed so it doesn’t move, the wind would exert a force but do zero mechanical work (instantaneously W = F·0 = 0).
- If the force were always exactly perpendicular to the displacement (like a purely centripetal force), the work would be zero — but that is not the usual sailboat case.
Reason: work = ∫F · ds. The wind exerts a force on the sail and the boat moves, so the force has a nonzero component along the displacement and thus does positive work on the boat (increasing its kinetic energy and supplying energy dissipated by drag, waves, etc.).
Notes / exceptions:
- If the boat were held fixed so it doesn’t move, the wind would exert a force but do zero mechanical work (instantaneously W = F·0 = 0).
- If the force were always exactly perpendicular to the displacement (like a purely centripetal force), the work would be zero — but that is not the usual sailboat case.
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