What is the term for the ability to do work?

The term that refers to the ability to do work is energy. Energy is a fundamental concept in physics and is scalar in nature, meaning it has magnitude but no direction. It is the capacity of a physical system to perform work on another system or to produce change, which can be in various forms such as kinetic energy (energy of motion), potential energy (stored energy), thermal energy, chemical energy, and more.

When discussing work, it's important to understand that work is defined as the transfer of energy that occurs when a force is applied over a distance. Therefore, without energy, work cannot be accomplished. In practical terms, for any process in which energy is transformed from one form to another, the total amount of energy must remain constant, as stated by the law of conservation of energy.

The other terms used in the choices relate to different concepts. Force is an interaction that changes the motion of an object, power is the rate at which work is done or energy is transferred, and mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object. While all these concepts are interconnected in the realm of physics, energy specifically defines the capacity to perform work.