Usually, in physics textbooks, the physical magnitude ‘work’ is introduced as the product of a force multiplied by its displacement, in relation to the transfer of energy. In other words, ‘work’ is presented as an internal affair of physics theory, while its relation to the world of experience, that is its empirical meaning, is missing. On the other hand, in the history of its creation, ‘work’ was a concept that had empirical meaning from the start. It was constructed by engineers to measure the work (labor) of motor engines, men, and animals. Very soon however this initial meaning seems to vanish. In this article, it will be looked at how ‘work’ is presented in physics textbooks, what was its initial meaning in the history of its formulation, under what circumstances this initial meaning faded, and how elements from the history of its creation can be used in the classroom to teach it.
...MoreArticle Fabio Bevilacqua (2014) Energy: Learning from the Past. Science and Education (pp. 1231-1243).
Chapter
Sarnowsky, Jürgen;
(2008)
Concepts of Impetus and the History of Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000760474/)
Article
Hartmut Hecht;
(2016)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and the Origin of the Principle of Least Action – a Never Ending Story
(/isis/citation/CBB198666566/)
Article
Terrall, Mary;
(2004)
Vis Viva Revisited
(/isis/citation/CBB000470284/)
Article
Bernard Pourprix;
(2015)
La Mécanique physique au sens de Joseph Boussinesq
(/isis/citation/CBB625191707/)
Article
Schmit, Christophe;
(2014)
Rapports entre équilibre et dynamique au tournant des 17e et 18e siècles
(/isis/citation/CBB001202411/)
Article
Katherine Brading;
Marius Stan;
(2021)
How Physics Flew the Philosophers' Nest
(/isis/citation/CBB008141627/)
Article
Bruce Pourciau;
(2020)
The Principia’s second law (as Newton understood it) from Galileo to Laplace
(/isis/citation/CBB715090012/)
Book
Suisky, Dieter;
(2009)
Euler as Physicist
(/isis/citation/CBB000954470/)
Article
Nozawa, Satoshi;
(2006)
Johann Bernoulli's Mechanics: Reevaluation Based on the “Loix de la Communication du Mouvement”
(/isis/citation/CBB000630943/)
Chapter
Maltese, Giulio;
(2006)
On the Changing Fortune of the Newtonian Tradition in Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000774503/)
Article
Raffaele Pisano;
Danilo Capecchi;
(2013)
Conceptual and Mathematical Structures of Mechanical Science in the Western Civilization around the 18th century
(/isis/citation/CBB235135400/)
Article
Maltese, Giulio;
(2000)
On the Relativity of Motion in Leonhard Euler's Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000740281/)
Chapter
Huggett, Nick;
(2012)
What Did Newton Mean by “Absolute Motion”?
(/isis/citation/CBB001500345/)
Article
Suay Belenguer, Juan Miguel;
(2013)
La cometa en las obras de física y de divulgación científica de los siglos XVIII y XIX
(/isis/citation/CBB001200195/)
Article
Aichele, Alexander;
(2012)
Dynamische Wirklichkeit. Bewegung als Grundbegriff aristotelischer Metaphysik
(/isis/citation/CBB001200478/)
Chapter
Celeyrette, Jean;
(2008)
Bradwardine's Rule: A Mathematical Law?
(/isis/citation/CBB000760472/)
Chapter
Vilain, Christiane;
(2008)
Circular and Rectilinear Motion in the Mechanica and in the 16th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000760475/)
Article
Gregory, Andrew;
(2001)
Aristotle, Dynamics and Proportionality
(/isis/citation/CBB000773916/)
Article
Pourciau, Bruce;
(2006)
Newton's Interpretation of Newton's Second Law
(/isis/citation/CBB000670058/)
Article
Erlichson, H.;
(2002)
Huygens and Newton on Motion in a Cycloid
(/isis/citation/CBB000502807/)
Be the first to comment!