eli5: Force and distance

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I’m still in school so this might sound like a bit of a stupid question. I know that work done = force x distance, so if I were to apply a force to an object in an environment where it would not be opposed by any other forces (such as space), the distance travelled would theoretically be infinite. Would this mean that the work done is also infinite? At what point do we stop measuring the distance travelled?

In: Physics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Work is only being done while a force is still being applied to the object. Even though the object may travel forever, you stop putting a force after the initial push and the work being done drops to 0 at that point. The total work done would only be the product of the force applied times the distance it was applied over. Once you let go, work stops being done.

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