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Topic: What is the sign of work?  (Read 2529 times)

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Offline trainee

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What is the sign of work?
« on: April 09, 2018, 10:28:49 PM »
I must've scoured a dozen articles but I feel like I keep going in a circle and I'm about to lose it.
The equation I was given was this:
U = Q - W
Does this imply
W = -PΔV?
And if I get a negative number (-x) it will end up something like
Q - (- x) = Q + x?
Or is this negative part of the -W so
U = Q - x?

I know this should be really easy but I'm about to go crazy. The different sign conventions (I was told - was more common in chemistry but a lot of chem resources seem to use + like in physics?) are driving me crazy.

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