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Posted 2007-11-30, 02:28 PM
in reply to Grav's post starting "I think the answer you're looking for..."
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Grаν¡tоnЅurgе said:
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I think the answer you're looking for is that work is always non conservative. Think about pushing a desk. If you push the desk to the opposite side of the room, and then push it back, even though it's returned to its place of origin you still had to sweat to translate it there. Work is dependent on the path taken. I know this is a very simple explanation, but if this doesn't answer your question then I don't know what you're asking.
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Well, I mean generally work is, at the mathematical level at the very least, considered conservative for most force fields. For instance, the gravitational field can be represented as a gradient vector of a scalar function. Technically, yes, you lose energy to heat I suppose, but on the mathematical level gravity, and other forces that I know of are considered conservative. That's the whole concept behind potential energy. The gravitational field is just the negative gradient of a potential field.
Basically I was wondering if there's physical force fields that display non-conservative properties or if the idea of non-conservative force fields is strictly a mathematical construct.
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