Pushing a stalled car across a parking lot is pure physics: force times distance is work. The full rule accounts for the push direction: work equals force times distance times the cosine of the angle between them, W = F × d × cosθ. Shove straight along the motion and cosθ = 1, so every pound counts; push at an angle and only the along-the-motion component earns its keep — the reason movers lean into a dolly rather than lifting it.

This calculator multiplies it out. Type the push force in pounds into the Applied Force (F) box, the distance moved in feet into the Distance (d) box, and the angle between the push and the motion into the Angle (θ) box — 0 degrees for a straight shove. The Work Done (W) box answers in foot-pounds. Someone in Ohio pushing a 200-pound mower 100 feet across the lawn, for instance, enters 200, 100, and 0, reading 20,000 ft-lb of work — about 0.01 kWh, which explains why the chore feels enormous and the electric bill barely notices. The work-energy theorem adds the payoff: that work becomes the object's kinetic energy, speed included.

With the pre-filled defaults — Applied Force (F) 50 N, Distance (d) 10 m, Angle (θ) 0 ° (degrees) — the Work & Energy Calculator returns Work Done (W) 500.0000 J. Change any input and those results update instantly, so you can see exactly how each number you enter moves the answer.