Energy is the capacity to do work. In science, the term work has a very special meaning. It means that an object has been moved through a distance. Thus, pushing a brick across the top of a table is an example of doing work. By applying this definition of work, then, energy can also be defined as the ability to move an object through a distance. Imagine that a bar magnet is placed next to a pile of iron filings (thin slivers of iron metal). The iron filings begin to move toward the iron bar. We say that magnetic energy pulls on the iron filings and...
Source: Encyclopedia of Science, ©2005 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 1628 words.)
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