Question regarding Work

1. Oct 29, 2009

Innuendo

A block is pushed up an incline over a distance.

Now I have to find the work in the system, so my question is, does work only exist in the y direction? Is there work in the x direction of the force while pushing up the incline?

2. Oct 29, 2009

iitjee10

What is work?

It is the product of the displacement along the direction of the force with the magnitude of the force applied

Vectorially work is (for constant force) F.s where [.] means dot product of the F vector and s vector

If F is not constant then W = integral of F.ds

Work is a scalar: So how can work exist in x-direction or y-direction???

3. Oct 29, 2009

Innuendo

I split the force pushing the block up the incline into two forces on the x-y coordinates, so Fx and Fy. I'm confused on whether Fx . d does any work since it is normal to the gravity. I assumed that the gravity is the only source that creates work for the F because Fy is acting parallel to the gravity, and so work is done, for the Fy component of F.