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Fifty
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When I first learned the Work-Energy Theorem, I was a little confused. After all, it implied that no work was done when you push against a wall that doesn't move, but I know that I still feel tired after pushing against a wall.
So, suppose you have an electro-hydraulic piston bolted to the ground near a wall. When you turn it on, nothing moves. Surely, the piston won't keep applying the force forever (not all the electric energy will be transferred. I.e. the piston is not doing work, but since the piston will eventually die, where does the energy go? I tried this thought experiment with a car pushing on a wall, but concluded that the chemical energy from the gasoline gets converted into the kinetic energy of the wheels and noise + heat created by the wheelspin.
I can't find the answer to the piston problem, and I figure this is more similar to my arm pushing on the wall. Perhaps it's just that I don't understand how they work :P
So, suppose you have an electro-hydraulic piston bolted to the ground near a wall. When you turn it on, nothing moves. Surely, the piston won't keep applying the force forever (not all the electric energy will be transferred. I.e. the piston is not doing work, but since the piston will eventually die, where does the energy go? I tried this thought experiment with a car pushing on a wall, but concluded that the chemical energy from the gasoline gets converted into the kinetic energy of the wheels and noise + heat created by the wheelspin.
I can't find the answer to the piston problem, and I figure this is more similar to my arm pushing on the wall. Perhaps it's just that I don't understand how they work :P