Editing Work (physics) (section)

=== Early concepts of work ===
Although ''work'' was not formally used until 1826, similar concepts existed before then. Early names for the same concept included ''moment of activity, quantity of action, latent live force, dynamic effect, efficiency'', and even ''force''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mendelson |first=Kenneth S. |date=2003-02-13 |title=Physical and colloquial meanings of the term "work" |url=https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.1522707 |journal=American Journal of Physics |language=en |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=279–281 |doi=10.1119/1.1522707 |bibcode=2003AmJPh..71..279M |issn=0002-9505}}</ref> In 1637, the French philosopher [[René Descartes]] wrote:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Descartes |first=R. |url=https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/descartes1619.pdf |title=Selected correspondence of Descartes |year=2013 |editor-last=Bennett |editor-first=J. |pages=50 |orig-date=Letter to Huygens, Oct 5, 1637}}</ref> 
{{Blockquote|text=Lifting 100 lb one foot twice over is the same as lifting 200 lb one foot, or 100 lb two feet.|author=René Descartes|source=Letter to Huygens}}
In 1686, the German philosopher [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Gottfried Leibniz]] wrote:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iltis |first=C. |date=1971 |title=Leibniz and the vis viva controversy |url=https://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/articles/2.pdf |journal=Isis |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=21–35 (specifically p. 24)|doi=10.1086/350705 |s2cid=143652761 }}</ref> 
{{Blockquote|text=The same force ["work" in modern terms] is necessary to raise body A of 1 pound (libra) to a height of 4 yards (ulnae), as is necessary to raise body B of 4 pounds to a height of 1 yard.|author=Gottfried Leibniz|title=Brevis demonstratio}}
In 1759, [[John Smeaton]] described a quantity that he called "power" "to signify the exertion of strength, gravitation, impulse, or pressure, as to produce motion." Smeaton continues that this quantity can be calculated if "the weight raised is multiplied by the height to which it can be raised in a given time," making this definition remarkably similar to [[Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis|Coriolis]]'s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smeaton |first=John |date=1759 |title=Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills and Other Machines Depending on a Circular Motion |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society |volume=51 |pages=105 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1759.0019 |s2cid=186213498|doi-access=free }}</ref>