What is the term for the capacity to operate or work?

What is the term for the capacity to operate or work?

• A. Energy
• B. Power
• C. Force
• D. Momentum

Answer: (A)

Energy is the term for the capacity to operate or do work. It represents the ability of a system to perform work, which is the process of applying a force to move something over a distance. Energy comes in many forms—kinetic energy of moving objects, potential energy stored due to position, chemical energy, electrical energy, and more—and it can be transformed from one form to another while the total amount remains the same (conservation of energy). It’s useful to contrast energy with related ideas: power is the rate at which work is done (how quickly energy is expended); force is the push or pull that causes an object to accelerate; momentum is the quantity of motion (mass times velocity) that describes how hard it is to stop a moving object.

Energy is the term for the capacity to operate or do work. It represents the ability of a system to perform work, which is the process of applying a force to move something over a distance. Energy comes in many forms—kinetic energy of moving objects, potential energy stored due to position, chemical energy, electrical energy, and more—and it can be transformed from one form to another while the total amount remains the same (conservation of energy).

It’s useful to contrast energy with related ideas: power is the rate at which work is done (how quickly energy is expended); force is the push or pull that causes an object to accelerate; momentum is the quantity of motion (mass times velocity) that describes how hard it is to stop a moving object.