The Importance of Work

Author:  Prof. Dr. David Kirk, Coventry University, U.K.
Source:  The Shot Peener magazine, Vol 31, Issue 2, Spring 2017
Doc ID:  2017017
Year of Publication:  2017
Abstract:  
INTRODUCTION: Work and rate of doing work are, arguably, the most important parameters in the Universe. No event can happen unless some work is done at a measurable rate. Even blinking an eye requires that some work is done. Shot peening simply could not happen without work being done on components. The basic unit of work is the Joule. It is named after the English physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889). A joule is equal to the work done to an object when a force of one Newton pushes that object through a distance of one meter. Work is, however, more commonly expressed directly in N.m rather than in joules.