Friction

This page discusses the concept of friction and how it relates to both moving and static objects.

Claimed by drao31

The Main Idea

Friction is caused by the interactions between the atoms that make up objects. When objects interact, the atoms that make up the objects also interact. Temperatures of interacting surfaces rise because of such interactions. Friction is a force that resists movement. Generally, friction makes it harder to move objects. There are two main types of friction that are covered in Physics 2211: Static Friction and Kinetic Friction. Static friction can be described as the friction acting on resting objects. Kinetic friction is the friction acting on objects in motion.

Frictional forces depend on a few factors: the normal force and the coefficient of friction.

In simple terms, the normal force is the equivalent force between objects. For example, when an object of mass M is placed on a table, the object exerts a gravitational force Mg on the table. If the table can support the object without collapsing, the table exerts an equivalent force Mg on the object. According to the momentum principle, since there is no change in momentum, the net force must be 0. This is also apparent since there is no movement if the table can support the object.

[math]\displaystyle{ {F}_{g} = {M}{g} }[/math]

[math]\displaystyle{ {F}_{N} = {M}{g} }[/math]

[math]\displaystyle{ {F}_{net} = {F}_{g} - {F}_{N} = {0} }[/math]

The coefficient of friction is usually specific to each object or material. The coefficient of static friction is denoted by [math]\displaystyle{ {μ}_{s} }[/math] and the coefficient of kinetic friction is denoted by [math]\displaystyle{ {μ}_{k} }[/math]

A Computational Model

How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript

Examples

Be sure to show all steps in your solution and include diagrams whenever possible

Connectedness

1. How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?
2. How is it connected to your major?
3. Is there an interesting industrial application?

History

Put this idea in historical context. Give the reader the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

See also

Are there related topics or categories in this wiki resource for the curious reader to explore? How does this topic fit into that context?

Further reading

Books, Articles or other print media on this topic

External links

Internet resources on this topic

References

This section contains the the references you used while writing this page