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Energy is transferred or moves from one object or place to another. This is what we refer to when we say that energy "flows". For example, when a burner on your stove is hot, the heat (thermal) energy flows or is transferred from the burner to a pan, or the room, or maybe even your hand. Another example is when a moving object, such as a cue ball, strikes a none moving object, the eight ball, causing the eight ball to move. Thus some of the energy of the cue ball (kinetic energy) is transferred to the eight ball. As you can see there are different forms of energy...two are described above. To further complicate things energy changes form and this contributes to the idea of energy flow. Here is an example of energy flowing through a system by transfer and transformation. The chemical energy stored in natural gas is transformed into thermal energy when the gas burns in a stove burner. The thermal energy of the burning gas is transfered to the pan and transfered again to the water inside the pan. As the water in the pan gets hotter and begins to boil, the steam causes the lid on the pan to move (rattle about as the pan of water is rapidly boiling). Since the lid is moving, it has kinetic energy. Energy flowed in this example as it moved from the gas to the pan to the water to the lid. Several changes we required for energy to flow through this system. Energy changed form (transformed) from chemical energy to thermal energy to kinetic energy. Keep in mind that I left a few things out...like the electomagnetic energy also released when the gas burned and the fact that thermal energy is also is best understood in terms of moving particles.

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A energy is?

Energy is the potential to do some work. If there is work done on a system, this work done is stored as potential energy of the system. If the system in motion, it should have kinetic energy. Hence total energy of the system PE+KE


What happens to the energy content of a system when work is done on or by it?

It helps to think of work as "transfer of energy". If you do energy on a system, its energy content increases. If the system does work on something else, the system's energy content decreases.


What is the relationship between nonconservative work and the overall energy change in a system?

Nonconservative work is work done on a system that does not conserve mechanical energy. The overall energy change in a system is the sum of the work done on the system and the heat added to or removed from the system. In a nonconservative system, the nonconservative work contributes to the overall energy change by either increasing or decreasing the system's total energy.


Work done on the system is?

work done on the system: when a surrounding does work on the system the total energy increases so work done is positive..........


Can work done on a system decrease its thermal energy?

Yes. As an example: if you define a refrigerator as your system, the work done on the system causes heat to be expelled from the system to the surroundings. The net heat expelled will be equal to the work input plus the decrease in its thermal energy.


How does the thermal energy of a system change when work is done on The system?

Usually the "thermal energy" will increase since work ON the system adds energy. Thermal energy is really not the best term though. A much better term in thermodynamics would be ENTHALPY.


Is the work done on a system positive or negative?

The work done on a system is positive when energy is added to the system, and negative when energy is removed from the system.


Does the work done on a system necessarily change the system's kinetic energy?

Yes, the work done on a system can change the system's kinetic energy.


When mechanical work is done on a system there is an increase in what?

When mechanical work is done on a system, there is an increase in the system's internal energy. This increase in internal energy is due to the transfer of energy from the mechanical work applied to the system.


Is work the transfer of energy?

In a sense, work can be seen as the transfer of energy between a system and its surroundings. When work is done on a system, energy is transferred to it, and when work is done by a system, energy is transferred to its surroundings. This transfer of energy through work is a fundamental concept in physics.


When system does work what happens to it's internal energy?

When a system does work on its surroundings, its internal energy deceases. This is because some of the internal energy of the system is being used to perform the work.


Is the total energy of a system.?

he sum of the potential energy and kinetic energy of the system. It represents the capacity of the system to do work.