Calculating Work using Integration

Contributed by:
Sharp Tutor
In this section, we will learn about:
Applying integration to calculate the amount of work done in performing a certain physical task.
1. 6
APPLICATIONS OF INTEGRATION
2. APPLICATIONS OF INTEGRATION
6.4
Work
In this section, we will learn about:
Applying integration to calculate the amount of
work done in performing a certain physical task.
3. The term ‘work’ is used in everyday
language to mean the total amount of
effort required to perform a task.
4. In physics, it has a technical meaning that
depends on the idea of a ‘force.’
 Intuitively, you can think of a force as describing a
push or pull on an object.
 Some examples are: the horizontal push of a book
across a table or the downward pull of the earth’s
gravity on a ball.
5. FORCE Defn. 1 / Eqn. 1
In general, if an object moves along a straight
line with position function s(t), then:
 The force F on the object (in the same direction)
is defined by Newton’s Second Law of Motion as
the product of its mass m and its acceleration.
d 2s
F =m 2
dt
6. In the SI metric system, the mass is
measured in kilograms (kg), the displacement
in meters (m), the time in seconds (s), and
the force in newtons (N = kg•m/s2).
 Thus, a force of 1 N acting on a mass of 1 kg
produces an acceleration of 1 m/s2.
7. In the US Customary system,
the fundamental unit is chosen to be
the unit of force, which is the pound.
8. WORK Defn. 2 / Eqn. 2
In the case of constant acceleration:
 The force F is also constant and the work done
is defined to be the product of the force F and
the distance that the object moves:
W = Fd (work = force x distance)
9. If F is measured in newtons and d in meters,
then the unit for W is a newton-meter called
joule (J).
If F is measured in pounds and d in feet, then
the unit for W is a foot-pound (ft-lb), which
is about 1.36 J.
10. WORK Example 1
a. How much work is done in lifting a 1.2-kg
book off the floor to put it on a desk that
is 0.7 m high?
 Use the fact that the acceleration due to gravity
is g = 9.8 m/s2.
b. How much work is done in lifting a 20-lb
weight 6 ft off the ground?
11. WORK Example 1 a
The force exerted is equal and opposite
to that exerted by gravity.
 Therefore, Equation 1 gives:
F = mg = (1.2)(9.8) = 11.76 N
 Thus, Equation 2 gives the work done as:
W = Fd = (11.76)(0.7) ≈ 8.2 J
12. WORK Example 1 b
Here, the force is given as F = 20 lb.
 Therefore, the work done is:
W = Fd = 20 • 6 = 120 ft-lb
 Notice that in (b), unlike (a), we did not have to
multiply by g as we were given the ‘weight’ (which
is a force) and not the mass of the object.
13. Equation 2 defines work as long as
the force is constant.
However, what happens if the force is
14. Let’s suppose that the object moves
along the x-axis in the positive direction,
from x = a to x = b.
 At each point x between a and b, a force f(x) acts
on the object—where f is a continuous function.
15. We divide the interval [a, b] into
n subintervals with endpoints x0, x1, . . . , xn
and equal width Δx.
 We choose a sample point xi* in the i th subinterval
[xi -1, xi ].
 Then, the force at that point is f(xi*).
16. If n is large, then Δx is small, and since f is
continuous, the values of f don’t change very
much over the interval [xi -1, xi ].
 In other words, f is almost constant on the interval.
 So, the work Wi that is done in moving the particle
from xi -1 to xi is approximately given by Equation 2:
Wi ≈ f(xi*) ∆x
17. WORK Equation 3
Thus, we can approximate
the total work by:
n
W ≈∑ f ( xi *)Δx
i =1
18. It seems that this approximation
becomes better as we make n larger.
n
W ≈∑ f ( xi *)Δx
i =1
19. WORK Definition 4
So, we define the work done in moving
the object from a to b as the limit of the
quantity as n → ∞.
 As the right side of Equation 3 is a Riemann sum,
we recognize its limit as being a definite integral.
 Thus, n b
W = lim ∑ f ( xi *)Δx = ∫ f ( x)dx
n→ ∞ a
i =1
20. WORK Example 2
When a particle is located a distance x feet
from the origin, a force of x2 + 2x pounds
acts on it.
How much work is done in moving it from
x = 1 to x = 3?
21. WORK Example 2
3 3
2⎤
3
2 x 50
W = ∫( x + 2 x)dx = + x ⎥ =
1
3 ⎦1 3
2
 The work done is 16 ft-lb.
3
22. In the next example, we use
a law from physics: Hooke’s Law.
23. HOOKE’S LAW
The force required to maintain a spring
stretched x units beyond its natural length is
proportional to x
f(x) = kx
where k is a positive constant (called the
spring constant).
24. HOOKE’S LAW
The law holds provided that x
is not too large.
25. WORK Example 3
A force of 40 N is required to hold a spring
that has been stretched from its natural length
of 10 cm to a length of 15 cm.
How much work is done in stretching the
spring from 15 cm to 18 cm?
26. WORK Example 3
According to Hooke’s Law, the force required
to hold the spring stretched x meters beyond
its natural length is f(x) = kx.
 When the spring is stretched from 10 cm to 15 cm,
the amount stretched is 5 cm = 0.05 m.
 This means that f(0.05) = 40, so 0.05k = 40.
 Therefore, 40
k= = 800
0.05
27. WORK Example 3
Thus, f(x) = 800x and the work done in
stretching the spring from 15 cm to 18 cm is:
0.08
0.08 x ⎤ 2
W = ∫ 800 xdx = 800 ⎥
0.05 2 ⎦0.05
= 400 ⎡(0.08 ) − (0.05 ) ⎤ = 1.56 J
2 2
⎣ ⎦
28. WORK Example 4
A 200-lb cable is 100 ft long and hangs
vertically from the top of a tall building.
How much work is required to lift the cable
to the top of the building?
 Here, we don’t have a formula for the force function.
 However, we can use an argument similar to the one
that led to Definition 4.
29. WORK Example 4
Let’s place the origin at the top of the
building and the x-axis pointing downward.
 We divide the cable into
small parts with length Δx.
30. WORK Example 4
If xi* is a point in the i th such interval, then all
points in the interval are lifted by roughly the
same amount, namely xi*.
 The cable weighs 2 lb/foot.
 So, the weight of the i th part
is 2Δx.
31. WORK Example 4
Thus, the work done on the i th part,
in foot-pounds, is:
(2
{ Δ x ) xi * = 2 xi * Δx
{
force distance
32. WORK Example 4
We get the total work done by adding all
these approximations and letting the number
of parts become large (so ∆x→0):
n
W = lim ∑2 xi * Δx
n→ ∞
i =1
100
2 100
= ∫ 2 xdx = x ⎤⎦
0 0
= 10, 000 ft-lb
33. WORK Example 5
A tank has the shape of an inverted circular
cone with height 10 m and base radius 4 m.
It is filled with water to a height of 8 m.
 Find the work required to
empty the tank by pumping
all the water to the top of
the tank.
 The density of water is
1,000 kg/m3.
34. WORK Example 5
Let’s measure depths from the top of the tank
by introducing a vertical coordinate line.
 The water extends from a depth
of 2 m to a depth of 10 m.
 So, we divide the interval
[2, 10] into n subintervals
with endpoints x0, x1, . . . , xn
and choose xi* in the i th
subinterval.
35. WORK Example 5
This divides the water into n layers.
 The i th layer is approximated by a circular cylinder
with radius ri and height Δx.
36. WORK Example 5
We can compute ri from similar triangles:
ri 4
= ri = 52 (10 − xi *)
10 − xi * 10
37. WORK Example 5
Thus, an approximation to the volume
of the i th layer of water is:
2 4π 2
Vi ≈ π ri Δx = (10 − xi *) Δx
25
 So, its mass is: mi = density x volume
4π 2
≈ 1000 ⋅ (10 − xi *) Δx
25
2
= 160π (10 − xi *) Δx
38. WORK Example 5
The force required to raise this layer must
overcome the force of gravity and so:
Fi = mi g
2
≈(9.8)160π (10 −xi *) Δx
2
≈1570π (10 −xi *) Δx
39. WORK Example 5
Each particle in the layer must travel
a distance of approximately xi*.
 The work Wi done to raise this layer to the top
is approximately the product of the force Fi and
the distance xi*:
Wi ≈Fi xi *
2
≈1570π xi *(10 −xi *) Δx
40. WORK Example 5
To find the total work done in emptying
the entire tank, we add the contributions
of each of the layers and then take the limit
as n →∞.
41. WORK Example 5
n
W = lim ∑1570π xi *(10 − xi *) 2 Δx
n →∞
i =1
10
= ∫ 1570π xi *(10 − x) dx 2
2
10
= 1570π ∫
2
(100 x − 20 x + x 2
)dx
10
⎡ 2 20 x x ⎤ 3 4
= 1570π ⎢50 x − + ⎥
⎣ 3 4 ⎦2
= 1570π ( 2048
3 ) ≈ 3.4 ×10 6
J