Direction of work of block colliding with spring

[zhenyazh]

a general question.
suppose i have a spring and a block colliding it.
the direction of the work vector is it defined by F or by X.

 

[magwas]

I never thought of work as a vector. As far as I can remember it is the scalar multiplication of force and distance. The fact that the work done on a path normal to the direction of force is zero (think about a frictionless surface and an object already moving along the surface) supports what I remember.

 

[Zayer]

Work done on or by a system

It depend on which reference your book choice

some books take the work done on a system as negative and in other books positive