MAT1322 C ALCULUS II E LIZABETH M ALTAIS

4. Work

• At this point, we’ve used definite integrals to solve two different types of problems:
areas between curves and volumes of solids.
• In both scenarios, we used the same underlying strategy:
we break up the problem into Riemann sums of thin “slices”, then evaluate an
appropriate definite integral.
• Now we continue to use this strategy, adapted to solve various applications of physics.

W ORK

⇧ If an object is moved a distance d against a constant force F , then the work done is
W = Fd

⇧ If the force varies with distance, then we can “chop up” the path of the object into pieces
over which the force is approximately constant, then sum over the pieces.

⇧ Suppose we want to move an object along the x-axis from x = a to x = b and the force is
given as f (x) (a function of the object’s location on the axis). What is the work needed to
move this object from point a to point b?

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Warning! Beware of units, and mass versus weight.

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If F is measured in pounds and d in feet, then the unit for W is a foot-pound (ft-lb)

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Example 4.1. A tank filled with water has the shape of an isosceles trapezoid (at the ends). The
tank is 1 m wide and 1.5 m tall. The top of the tank’s length measures 2 m and the bottom of the
tank’s length measures 1 m. (water denisity ⇢ = 1000 kg/m3 )
How much work is required to pump all the water out of the tank?

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How much work is required to lift the cable to the top of the building?
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3).

Hooke’s Law states that 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. Hooke’s Law holds provided x is not
too large.

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 Example 4.5. 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?

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S TUDY G UIDE

⇤ Work W = F d
1. If the force and/or distance varies as a function of x, then we chop the total work up into n
“tasks”.
2. Approximate the work needed to accomplish one of these tasks, say t(xi ) x.
n
X
3. We sum over all tasks to approximate the total work: W t t(xi ) x
i=1

n
X
4. The work done is defined as the limit as n ! 1 W = lim t(xi ) x
n!1
i=1

5. This is the limit of a Riemann sum, thus we can evaluate it with a definite integral:
Z b
W = t(x)dx
a