I know, all the school books say energy is the ability to do work. But what does that mean? Well it sort of means the ability to make something happen (the nearly-well-known Dave Watson definition). Everytime a force is exerted on something through a distance (which is the definition of work) something had to move, which means something happened. But is that the definition of Energy? My thermo books say work is a process of energy transfer. Not a single one of my numerous thermodynamics text books says energy is "the ability to do work".
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| We use energy to run, to make things happen. |
And what about heat flow? Energy can be transferred through heat flow, like when you put a pot of water on the stove and the water gets hotter. Something happened for sure. Something changed. The water got hot and eventually, if left on the hot stove long enough, will start to boil. What forces are involved in this case? There doesn't appear to be anything being pushed through a distance. Does there?
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