Put that block on a shelf at the same height. 0 work. The fact that your muscles... | Hacker News

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dotancohen 44 days ago | parent | context | favorite | on: Why does kinetic energy increase quadratically, no...

Put that block on a shelf at the same height. 0 work.

The fact that your muscles burn ATP just fighting gravity is a feature of biology, not fundamental to the physics involved.

If you want to read about another similar example, Google for rocket launch gravity losses.

thfuran 44 days ago [–]

I think you're missing the point. A lot of basic mechanics actually isn't especially intuitive because things like work simply do not map well to everyday experience. I'm not suggesting that work is defined incorrectly or something.

dotancohen 41 days ago | [–]

I see what you're saying now, and I agree.

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