What is the true definition of energy?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the definition of energy, exploring its conceptual understanding and the various interpretations of what energy entails. Participants express confusion over the general definition of energy as the capacity to do work and seek clarification on its meaning in different contexts, including sound, radiation, and chemical bonds.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants assert that energy is commonly defined as the capacity to do work, but express confusion about this definition.
  • One participant references Feynman's perspective, suggesting that energy is an abstract concept without a clear physical representation, and is a conserved quantity related to time translation invariance.
  • Another participant questions the clarity of the original poster's understanding and encourages them to specify what aspect of energy they find confusing.
  • Some participants argue that energy can be related to various phenomena, such as sound, radiation, and chemical bonds, leading to a broad interpretation of what constitutes energy.
  • There are repeated requests for the original poster to clarify their understanding and prior research on the topic, indicating a need for more focused discussion.
  • One participant compares the inquiry about energy to asking about an apple, suggesting that understanding energy requires describing its properties rather than seeking a singular definition.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on a singular definition of energy, and multiple competing views and interpretations remain throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in understanding energy, including the dependence on definitions and the abstract nature of the concept. Participants express varying degrees of familiarity with the topic, which affects the depth of the conversation.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for individuals seeking a deeper understanding of the concept of energy, its definitions, and the various interpretations within physics.

Abhi9826
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Hey we know a general definition about Energy that it is capacity to do work...Or to do work energy is required...But this doesn't make any sense to me..
If someone ask me about Energy I becomes speeches .So Please explain me about the Energy...
 
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I think that no-one explained that better than Feynman: http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_04.html

The conclusion is
R. P. Feynman said:
It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is. We do not have a picture that energy comes in little blobs of a definite amount. It is not that way. However, there are formulas for calculating some numerical quantity, and when we add it all together it gives “28”—always the same number. It is an abstract thing in that it does not tell us the mechanism or the reasons for the various formulas.

I would also add that one can say that "energy" is the conserved quantity due to the fact that physical systems are invariant under time translation, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether's_theorem#Example_1:_Conservation_of_energy
 
Hello Abhi, :welcome:

Did you perform a thorough search before posting this ? What was it you specifically don't understand ? There's a lot to say about energy, but others need assistance too.
 
Abhi9826 said:
Hey we know a general definition about Energy that it is capacity to do work...But this doesn't make any sense to me
What part of the definition is confusing to you? Do you have trouble with what "work" means or what "capacity" means?
 
Actually I didn't understand what the Energy is...In general we say sound , radiation ,chemical bonds ,mass or any thing which is under any field (magnetic or electronic ) is Energy or posses energy...So we relating energy to everything...
 
BvU said:
Hello Abhi, :welcome:

Did you perform a thorough search before posting this ? What was it you specifically don't understand ? There's a lot to say about energy, but others need assistance too.
I have been thinking about this since a long time but I didn't got any suitable meaning to me...
 
Abhi9826 said:
I have been thinking about this since a long time but I didn't got any suitable meaning to me...

You need to step back and see if you actually understood what you are asking. For example, ask yourself "What is an apple?" and see if you can answer this. Then look at the answer you gave yourself on something that you think you know.

You will find that your answer will include descriptions such as "It is a fruit" (which is really a classification of the object), "It can be eaten", "It looks like this" (accompanied by a number of pictures of different types of apples), "It tastes like... an apple" (which assume that others understand and have a reference point to what an apple should taste like), etc... etc.

In other words, all you can give are ... drum roll... DESCRIPTIONS of the PROPERTIES of an apple.

What an object is is nothing more than a series of its properties and descriptions. So what you ask "What is X?", we have no other abilities than to describe to you the properties and characteristics of X.

Unfortunately, based on how you asked about energy in this thread, it appears as if you are seeking something beyond that, and frankly, something that doesn't really exist based on how we understand things. Asking "What is energy?" will inevitably results in us giving you all the properties and description of energy based on the physics of it. It is not just one description. It is a series of description, just like the apple.

We have had numerous threads in this forum asking for the same thing. You never responded to the question on if you've done any search.

Zz.
 
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ZapperZ said:
You need to step back and see if you actually understood what you are asking. For example, ask yourself "What is an apple?" and see if you can answer this. Then look at the answer you gave yourself on something that you think you know.

You will find that your answer will include descriptions such as "It is a fruit" (which is really a classification of the object), "It can be eaten", "It looks like this" (accompanied by a number of pictures of different types of apples), "It tastes like... an apple" (which assume that others understand and have a reference point to what an apple should taste like), etc... etc.

In other words, all you can give are ... drum roll... DESCRIPTIONS of the PROPERTIES of an apple.

What an object is is nothing more than a series of its properties and descriptions. So what you ask "What is X?", we have no other abilities than to describe to you the properties and characteristics of X.

Unfortunately, based on how you asked about energy in this thread, it appears as if you are seeking something beyond that, and frankly, something that doesn't really exist based on how we understand things. Asking "What is energy?" will inevitably results in us giving you all the properties and description of energy based on the physics of it. It is not just one description. It is a series of description, just like the apple.

We have had numerous threads in this forum asking for the same thing. You never responded to the question on if you've done any search.

Zz.
Sorry I have just joined this forum...
 
Abhi9826 said:
Sorry I have just joined this forum...

Unfortunately, this doesn't tell me if you've understood what you read, or why "just joined" has anything to do with this discussion.

Zz.
 
  • #10
Abhi9826 said:
Sorry I have just joined this forum...
No need to apologize. But you have to help us a little bit by clarifying what we can do to provide you with a useful answer. :smile:
 

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