12 May 2019

Difference between work and power

Work and power are two very important concepts discussed in mechanics. Work describes the amount of energy transferred, while power describes the rate of energy transfer. Both of these concepts are very important in fields such as engineering, Thermodynamics, physics, and even every human biology. Here this post gives the discussion of what work and power are, their similarities, applications and the most important difference between them.

The main key difference between work and power are listed below:
  • Work is measured in joule whereas power is measured in Watt.
  • Both are a scalar quantity.
  • Power is used more often than work.
  • Power is the rate at which work is being to be done.
  • Work represents the amount of energy transferred when doing something, power represents how fast the energy was transferred.
  • The equation of calculating work is work = force * displacement, The equation to calculate power is power = Work/ time.
  • An object can have for the power without doing work. If the object does any work the value of the power cannot be zero.
  • Work can also be measured in units like electrons volt(eV), kWh, MWh, and GWh, Energy is also measured in units like kW, MW, and GW.
You may also learn about this topic:
  1. Difference between energy and power
  2. Difference between force and pressure
  3. Difference between speed and velocity
  4. Difference between Gravitation and Gravity