Abstract
First of all, the work is a process in which participate man and nature, and human being with his action propels, regulates and controls his material interchange with nature. He faces the nature as one of his forces. He moves natural forces of his body, arms and legs, head and hands, in order to appropriate of natureā²s resources, giving useful shape to human life.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
If V is the approaching velocity of the fluid to a water wheel and Vā² is the fluid velocity, the second expression, proposed by Borda, calculates the kinetic energy which can be communicated to the water wheel.
- 2.
This theorem of Carnotās means a global energy balance over the whole system where all the components, including that of work, are converted into living forces.
- 3.
In fact, the incorporation of the term work is more complex because not only did Coriolis adopt it, but other polytechnician engineers did the same, for instance, Poncelet. In Ref. (Poncelet 1870), he states: āThis expression, mechanical work, which in some way is self-defining, I have used at the same time of quantity of action, in writing my course at School of Application in Metz (published edition, at the beginning of 1826 and presented in the same year to Academy of Sciences, which was readdressed to a Commission with the participation of Arago and Dupin)ā¦ but I did not adopt this expression mechanical work, in a definitive manner, unless exclusively in relation to any other, only in my lessons of 1827 to workers, after to be encouraged by Coriolis, who used in his repetitions at Polytechnic School, in a time before the publication of his Du Calcul de lāEffet des Machines, which appeared later onā.
- 4.
Using a torsion balance, Coulomb obtained important results in electricity and magnetism: the law of attraction and repulsion of electrical charges, study of magnetic poles, distribution of electricity on surface of charged bodies, etc. See Oliveira (2004).
- 5.
If Coulomb had measured the inverse relation, he would have found what is now known as the friction coefficient being a positive quantity lesser than one. This finding was obtained by Euler. See Merlet (2004)
- 6.
It is the measurement of the kinematic friction coefficient which is less than the static friction coefficient and stays practically constant with the velocity, unless this velocity becomes very high and modifies the mechanical properties of the materials in contact and in relative motion.
- 7.
These conclusions of Coulombās were achieved after a very rigorous investigation into friction phenomenon and represent his laws of dry friction.
- 8.
We cannot forget the question of machine efficiency, which was a general concern of that time, and the losses by friction were an essential part of it. With the study of friction laws, Coulomb made a significant advance towards the best working regime of machines, because friction appears in all of them.
- 9.
By using a mechanical analogy in order to try to measure the physical work of a man during a day of work, Coulomb returned to the case of a real machine and the question of its efficiency.
- 10.
In fact, Navierās main contribution was reviving the question of work as an economic concern, where his designation of work as mechanical currency is perfectly suitable. From the physical point of view, there is no relevant advance to the physical concept. Its use is the same as that presented by the physics of that time.
- 11.
This simplification makes the driven work approximately equal to resistant work and the space displaced by force equal to the product of the velocity by the time.
- 12.
Again, as with his antecessors, the problem of the capacity to undertake work of a given machine emerges. This returns things to the energy question and the discussion conducted by Carnot in the final part of his Principes.
- 13.
From the economic point of view, that is, for the purpose of comparing the work of machines, the parameter time is essential, because the costs in general, and primarily the work productivity, are directly related to the economy of time. And yet, as we have seen in the introduction to this book, a saving of time implies cost devaluation of human labour.
- 14.
The problem of machine efficiency or the calculation of their mechanical efficiency is developed and becomes clear for Coulombās proposal studying human body as a machine, taking into account the associated fatigue. Navierās proposal for improving machine efficiency is of a physical nature and quite similar to what was suggested by Carnot, as we have seen.
- 15.
Indeed, Cauchy is a scientist and remarkable personality, having been a prominent figure in France between 1815 and 1830. All mathematical and French mathematical-physical studies of the nineteenth century were greatly influenced by his studies, methods and even his style.
- 16.
For a more detailed description of how Coriolis found the effect that bears his name, see the original text (Coriolis 1832), as well as the work of Koetsier (2003), in which he shows that Coriolis was studying a vertical water wheel with curved blades when that effect appeared. Coriolisā effect appeared through a balance of kinetic energy (living forces), considering the water relative motion entering vertically into the water wheel through the big diameter and leaving through the small one.
- 17.
According to the discussion in the footnote of the previous page, the utilization of the term work in technical literature is due to Coriolis, in spite of some authors such as RenƩ Taton having attributed this fact to Poncelet.
- 18.
It is important to note that, in the nomenclature as well as in the concepts, the metaphysical aspects that followed up until Carnot progressively disappear.
- 19.
It is the modern form for applying the dāAlembert principle. When we look at the velocities decomposition proposed by him, the velocities which are destroyed in shocks are seen separately as an equilibrium problem.
- 20.
As in previous situations, an energy balance shows two sources of energy loss, shocks and frictions. This is clear with the equation presented in last paragraph.
- 21.
The image used by Coriolis to visualize a machine is interesting. Work is communicated to the machine pieces among them as a kind of vital flow which feeds the machine and puts it in motion. The losses due to resistance, friction or deformations are seen as holes through which the flow moves.
- 22.
In spite of the work degradation inside the machines and part of it being transformed into heat, the development from mechanical work to other energy forms was necessary for a new synthesis in physics, made by the discovery of the first law of thermodynamics.
- 23.
Naturally, in CoriolisĀ“s time, it was common to associate economic production with mechanical action, because this is what was done in production, meaning the replacement of labour (human work) by machines. In the text, we see a synthesis of some basic concepts used by Jean-Baptiste Say who had significantly influenced the polytechnician engineers.
- 24.
Although we can trace a parallel between labour (human work) and that made by a machine, the differences are significant and it is exactly those differences which limit the use of a theoretical model from physics to explain economic phenomena. In a capitalist society, labour is merchandise, but a very singular merchandise, because it is unique in creating value. However, what the capitalist buys is not the labour but its utilization.
- 25.
In Coriolisā works. the metamorphosis of the concept of work towards an economic field is more remarkable than in that of other polytechnician engineers, which we hope was made clear in the text.
- 26.
It is possible to realize clearly the difficulties of the theoretical model and the need for a new one, which will be provided only by thermodynamics.
- 27.
This is the way thermodynamics arose, initially as a machine science and later as a more complex science of the general nature processes.
- 28.
As remarked previously, Coulomb and Lazare Carnot are the true precursors of the polytechnician engineers. Coulomb created a new science of friction and Carnot developed the first general theory of machines. Coriolis systematized and developed Carnotās theory within the framewok of rational mechanics.
- 29.
In the introduction to Poncelet (1827), we find a historical summary of Ponceletās works related to water wheels. The first of these memoirs won a prize in mechanics at the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1825. It was also published in Physics and Chemical Proccedings in 1825 and 1826. A second memoir appears in 1826 where the achievements of several experiences with a new water wheel are presented.
- 30.
The history of PonceletĀ“s courses on applied mechanics begins in 1825, when he was admitted to the Metz School (Poncelet 1874). In 1827, Poncelet founded a professional course of public character at Metz, tax free and addressed to workers, entitled: Afternoon Lessons on Industrial Mechanics. In 1838, he was invited to Paris to create the Course of Mechanical Physics and Experimental. These are the most important points concerning PonceletĀ“s career as a lecturer.
- 31.
Teun Koetsier, in his paper The Case of Kinematics, The Genesis of a Discipline, published in the Proceedings of HMM 2012, Amsterdam, May 2012, wrote: At the end of 1820s, AmpĆØre coined the word kinematics in his Essai sur la philosophie des sciences, or Exposition analytique dĀ“une classification naturelle de toutes les connaissances humaines, Paris, vol. Ā½ (1834ā1843).
- 32.
It is easy to realize the amplitude of this course in terms of the contents presented from the laws of motion to the new notions of strength of materials.
- 33.
The main contribution of Saint-Venant was in the field of the mathematical theory of elasticity, but he also developed much in the elementary strength of materials, especially with the theory of bending of bars. As described by Timoshenko in his History of Strength of Materials, Saint-Venant was the first to examine the accuracy of the fundamental assumptions regarding bending.
- 34.
In his second memoir on water wheels, Poncelet optimized the speed which water should have in order for its effect on the wheel to be at a maximum. Considering V the water speed on the wheel, H the height from where water falls, m the mass of water flowing during one second, g gravity acceleration and v the constant speed acquired by wheel. VĀ āĀ v will be the relative speed with which water will go up, (VĀ āĀ v)/2g will be the height raised. Thus, (VĀ āĀ v)Ā āĀ vĀ =Ā vĀ āĀ 2g will be the absolute water speed leaving the hydraulic wheel. Because this speed will be zero in order to obtain the maximum effect, we have VĀ āĀ 2vĀ =Ā 0 or vĀ =Ā Ā½ V. This means that the water wheel will acquire half the flowing speed as well, as predicted by the theory of hydraulics with common blades.
- 35.
We are referring to a kind of decomposition of the text into machine elements as is usually used now by applied mechanics or mechanical design, such as shafts, bearings, belts, pulleys, etc.
- 36.
Classical economics or the classical school of economics belonged to Adam Smith, Malthus, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill. Smith inaugurated the classical period with Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. Overcoming the physiocratic school (Say 1983), Smith adopted as a central theme productive activity and work as a source of richness. As is known, the physiocrats had an exaggerated agrarian conception.
References
Coriolis GG (1829) Du Calcul de lāĆffet des Machines. Carilian-Goeury, Librairie, Paris
Coriolis GG (1832) Sur le Principe des Forces Vives dans le Mouvements Relatifs des Machines. Journal de lā²Ćcole Polytechnique, vingt-uniĆØme cahier, tome XIII
Coriolis GG (1990) ThĆ©orie MathĆ©matique des Ćffets du Jeu de Billiard. Ćditions Jacques Gabay, Paris
Coulomb CA (2002) ThƩorie des Machines Simples. Librairie Scientifique et Technique Albert Blanchard, Paris
Galileo AF (1987) Descartes e o Mecanicismo. Gradiva, Lisbon
Koetsier K (2003) A Note on Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792ā1843). In: Proceedings of the 11th world congress in mechanism and machine science, Tianjin, China
Merlet JP (2004) A note on the history of trigonometric functions and substitutions. Proceedings of HMM 2004. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Oliveira ARE (2004) The contribution of coulomb to applied mechanics. Proceedings HMM 2004 Symposium. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 217ā226
Poncelet JV (1827) MĆ©moire sur les Roues Hydrauliques a Aubes Courbes. Secong MĆ©moire, Librairie de Me. Ve. Thiel, Place St. Jacques, No. 4, Metz
Poncelet JV (1870) Introduction a la MĆ©canique Industrielle, troisiĆØme edn. Gauthier-Villars, Imprimeur-Librairie, Paris
Poncelet JV (1874) Notice sur lā²Introduction Ć la MĆ©canique Industrielle et sur le Cours de MĆ©canique AppliquĆ©e aux Machines. Gauthier-Villars, Paris
Say JB (1983) Tratado de Economia PolĆtica. ColeĆ§Ć£o Os Economistas, Editor Victor Civita, S. Paulo
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
Ā© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oliveira, A.R.E. (2014). The Metamorphosis of the Work Concept and its Incorporation into Economic Thought. In: A History of the Work Concept. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7705-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7705-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7704-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7705-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)