Power and Work Done
Success criteria:
Written answers are to be completed in full sentences.
For calculations questions, state the equations used, show every step of the working and give the answer to
3 sig fig with the correct units.
Work Done Explanation Questions – complete ALL of these
1. Identify the force I am doing work against and what the energy transfers are when…
a) I stretch a rubber band.
b) I lift a chair
c) I push a chair along the floor
2. Identify what force is doing work and what the energy transfers are
when…
a) a car applies its brakes
b) a spring is released
c) a stone falls off a cliff
Work Done Calculation Questions – complete ONE of these
3. How much work is done in these situations?
a) A man pushes a van against a friction force of 200 N for 10 m.
b) A mother pushes a pram with a force of 30 N for a distance of 100 m.
c) A weight-lifter lifts a weight of 500 N through a height of 2 m.
4. A worker pushes a barrow at a steady speed of 2 m/s for 10 s, using a force of 100 N.
a) How far did he travel? hint – rearrange the equation speed = distance/time
b) What force has he done work against?
c) Use a suitable equation to calculate how much work is done?
d) The energy in the kinetic energy store of the barrow doesn’t change. So what happens
to the energy transferred when the work is done?
Power Calculation Questions – complete THREE of these
5. A `sled is pulled 25m horizontally across the snow against a frictional force of 50N. If the sled
moves with uniform (constant) velocity, find the work done against friction.
6. An Olympic weight lifter does 20kJ of work in 2s. What is his power rating? hint – convert kJ to J
7. You run up some stairs using a power of 500W. If it takes you 20s how much work did you do?
hint – rearrange the power equation for time
8. A boy lifts a book 2m into the air with a force of 3N. He does this in 3s. What was his power? hint
– calculate the work done then use the power equation
9. *Alexandra runs up a hill with a power of 0.3kW. If her weight is 600N and she ran up the hill in
1/2 a minute how high was the hill? hint – calculate the work done using the power equation and
then rearrange the work done equation for distance
10. *A stadium contains 200 bulbs in its floodlights. Each bulb uses a total of 0.25 kJ of energy each
second. The bulbs are 60 % efficient. How many Joules of energy are wasted each second if all the
bulbs are in use?
Extension questions
11. If power, P, is the rate at which work is done show that P = F x v, where F is the force in the
direction of the movement and v is the velocity.
12. A tow truck provides 750 N of force to pull a car up a slope at a
constant speed of 9m/s. Find, in kW, the power developed.
13. Seb’s car produces a driving force of 3000N and he drives the car for
0.1km. If the power rating of the car is 60kW how long did the
journey take?
