Recently for one of my college classes I’ve had to do a light recap of basic physics phenomena l. In classic fashion, when being taught a simple concept (like mechanical advantage) I immediately conceptualize a method to mentally torture myself and ask “how does that work exactly? Meaning? what is the essence of mechanical advantage?” This kinda lead me into a rabbit hole where I (I don’t know if this is a correct conclusion, but…) discovered that energy isn’t really a thing, but rather just a concept to describe how things happen. In this note, the very important concept that energy cannot be created nor destroyed is also based on the major assumption that since we can do an experiment with the same outcome tomorrow as we do today, there isn’t inherently more energy being involved and therefore energy must remain consistent.
I was hoping I could unpack this a bit. What really is energy? If my conclusion (again, could very well be wrong) is true and energy isn’t really a “thing,” then how come we have so many formulas that can calculate how much energy a thing has, and why do they work so good at making things?
It is simply the capacity to do work (in the sense used in physics not the common understanding). There are two types, potential and kinetic. A rock sitting on top of a hill has potential energy (weight x height), which gets converted to kinetic energy (1/2 m v**2) when rolling down the hill, assuming no losses to friction. So yes lots of formulas make use of the concept. The law of the conservation of energy applies if you are not talking about atom bombs.
Way back in high school physics when we were first introduced to the concept of “work” the teacher used the example of walking down the hallway carrying a briefcase results in no work being done (motion is at right angle to force). We argued that carrying a briefcase was work as you get tired doing it.
The example was the work done on carrying, not lifting, the briefcase. I think the point was to just get the common definition of “work” out of our thinking.
Energy is the measurable substance of all things/actions physical/measurable. All physical/measurable things/actions are forms of energy. Energy erases the distinction between things and action. Both the things themselves and their motions are forms of energy.
Is their any truth to saying “energy is not a thing?” Sure. Things are forms of energy. So you can say energy by itself is not a thing. But this is only when we restrict ourselves to physical reality. For otherwise we might suppose that energy itself is the measurable/quantifiable form of something more basic. In that case, saying energy is not a thing is no more true than saying water is not a thing just because water has different forms: ice, liquid, and steam.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6
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