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Work being a scalar quantity sometimes has negative and positive signs. What does the sign suggest?

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Work being a scalar quantity sometimes has negative and positive signs. What does the sign suggest?

(a) The direction of work

(b) Relative directions of force and displacement

(c) The direction of force

(d) The direction of displacement

I got this question by my school teacher while I was bunking the class.

The query is from Work in division Work, Energy and Power of Physics – Class 11

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Right answer is (b) Relative directions of force and displacement

The explanation is: Work is a scalar quantity; hence it cannot have a direction. But work is obtained by calculating the dot product of force and displacement. If both are in the same direction, the dot product is positive. If both are in opposite directions, the dot product is negative. Hence, the sign of work suggests the relative directions of force and displacement.

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