# work (effort)

a change that happens when energy moves something through space

- Computed level: L3 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday  ·  Arena: lexicon

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [change](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-change.process), [energy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-energy.capacity), [motion](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-motion.movement), [happen](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-happen.event-occurrence), [space](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-space.extent)

**Through:** energy enables motion through space, causing a change that occurs over time and place

**Novel properties:**
- change due to applied energy
- spatiotemporal occurrence
- transferred agency

## Examples
- The Apollo 13 oxygen tank rupture converted electrical energy into kinetic motion, spinning the spacecraft unpredictably. *(engineering)*
- In 2003, the Northeast Blackout shifted energy loads across grids until transmission lines overheated and failed. *(institutions)*
- A cheetah accelerates to 100 km/h in 3 seconds, transforming metabolic energy into forward motion across the savanna. *(biology)*

## Used by
- [action](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-action.deed) (L4)
- [alive](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-alive.biological) (L15)
- [balance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-balance.state) (L15)
- [building](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-building.structure) (L16)
- [city](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-city.place) (L7)
- [company](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-company.economic) (L9)
- [competition](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-competition.social) (L16)
- [construction](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-construction.building) (L5)
- [cost](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cost.economic) (L8)
- [decay](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-decay.process) (L15)
- [easy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-easy.effort) (L7)
- [effective](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-effective.useful) (L12)
- [employment](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-employment.economic) (L19)
- [equilibrium](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-equilibrium.state) (L16)
- [factor of safety](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-factor-of-safety.margin) (L15)
- [goal](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-goal.purpose) (L6)
- [hard](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hard.difficulty) (L13)
- [healthy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-healthy.condition) (L15)
- [heart](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-heart.organ) (L14)
- [holding it together](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-holding-it-together.upkeep) (L15)
- [holiday](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-holiday.leisure) (L8)
- [income](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-income.financial) (L17)
- [industry](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-industry.economic) (L6)
- [jobs](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-jobs.employment) (L18)
- [keeping the lights on](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keeping-the-lights-on.upkeep) (L17)
- [keystone](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keystone.system) (L18)
- [leisure](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-leisure.psychological) (L14)
- [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep) (L14)
- [management](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-management.administrative) (L16)
- [manager](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-manager.administrative) (L9)
- [money](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-money.economic) (L16)
- [neglect](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-neglect.omission) (L15)
- [office](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-office.workplace) (L8)
- [operating](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-operating.active) (L6)
- [pay](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pay.economic) (L16)
- [persistence](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persistence.endurance) (L16)
- [play](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-play.game) (L12)
- [power](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-power.energy) (L19)
- [press](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-press.force) (L5)
- [pro](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pro.professional) (L21)

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-work.effort*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-work.effort.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*