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This formula readily explains how a nonzero force can do zero work. Where: C is the path or curve traversed by the object is the force vector is the position vector. The integration of both sides of this equation yields the following line integral: To further generalize the formula to situations in which the force changes over time, it is necessary to use differentials to express the infinitesimal work done by the force over an infinitesimal displacement, thus: This formula holds true even when the object changes its direction of travel throughout the motion. Where is the angle between the force and the displacement vector. More generally, the force and distance are taken to be vector quantities, and combined using the dot product: The work is taken to be negative when the force opposes the motion. Where F is the force and D is the distance travelled by the object. In the simplest case, that of a body moving in a steady direction, and acted on by a constant force parallel to that direction, the work is given by the formula The baseball pitcher does work on the ball by transferring energy into it. When the force does not lie along the same line as the motion, this can be generalized to the scalar product of force and displacement vectors. When the force is constant and along the same line as the motion, the work can be calculated by multiplying the force by the distance, W = F d (letting both F and d have positive or negative signs, according to the coordinate system chosen). Likewise, when a book sits on a table, the table does no work on the book, because no energy is transferred into or out of the book. The centripetal force in uniform circular motion, for example, does zero work because the kinetic energy of the moving object doesn't change. Work can be zero even when there is a force. A baseball pitcher, for example, does positive work on the ball, but the catcher does negative work on it. Positive and negative signs of work indicate whether the object exerting the force is transferring energy to some other object, or receiving it. In the 1830s, the French mathematician Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, coined the term work for the product of force and distance. Heat conduction is not considered to be a form of work, since there is no macroscopically measurable force, only microscopic forces occurring in atomic collisions. Like energy, it is a scalar quantity, with SI units of joules. In physics, mechanical work is the amount of energy transferred by a force.