Fuckin’ energy, how do they work? (I’d like to speak to a scientist, I promise I won’t get pissed)
In: Physics
For me, the confusing thing was the difference between torque and energy, because they are kind of the same in units. Both of them are actually Newton * meter, but sometimes you write them as Newtonmeter [Nm] and sometimes as Joule [J].
Imagine a door which is 1m wide. If you apply a force of 1N to the side opposite of the hinges, you’re applying a torque of 1Nm. If the door doesn’t move, no energy is transferred. But the torque applied to the hinge is 1Nm. The hinges have “to hold” against the torque applied, otherwise the door would move.
If the door does move by 1m, then you’ve done work which requires energy – if you move an object by 1m using 1N of force, then the energy you’ve needed is 1J. Note that this time, the meter doesn’t come from the width of the door, but from the distance it moved.
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