What is meant by work?

The scientific definition of work is different in many ways from its everyday meaning. The definition of work in physics reveals its relationship to energy – whenever work is done, energy is transferred.

For a work to be done, in a scientific sense, a force must be exerted, and there must be displacement in the direction of the force. With this said, we can say that

Work is the product of the component of the force in the direction of the displacement and the magnitude of this displacement.

Mathematically, the above statement is expressed as follows:

W = (F cos θ) d = F. d
Where,

W is the work done by the force.
F is the force, d is the displacement caused by force
θ is the angle between the force vector and the displacement vector
The dimension of work is the same as that of energy and is given as, [ML2T–2].

Unit of Work
The SI unit of work is the joule (J), which is defined as the work done by a force of 1 Newton in moving an object through a distance of 1 meter in the direction of the force.