PHYSICS 001 PROJECT 2 FRICTION

Friction: Definition
Friction is the force that opposes the motion of an object.

F f = Fn
This is the equation for the model of Coulomb Friction, which was named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb. The equation relates the frictional force to the normal force and allows a numerical value to be assigned to the frictional force.

 This is the coefficient of friction. It is a constant, but the number varies for different materials. For instance, the coefficient for rubber on concrete is different than the coefficient for paper on glass. Also, the coefficient of static friction is different than the coefficient of kinetic friction.

Static Friction
Static friction is the frictional force acting on a stationary object. The coefficient of static friction is greater than the coefficient of kinetic friction with similar surfaces. When using the equation of form Ff = Fn with static friction, the equals sign is misleading. The frictional force can actually be less than or equal to the frictional constant times the normal force. The number computed for Ff by the equation is the maximum possible frictional force. If a force of greater magnitude than the computed Ff acts on the object in the opposite direction, then static friction will cease because the object will begin to move.

Kinetic Friction
Kinetic friction is the frictional force being exerted on a moving object. The coefficient of kinetic friction is less than the coefficient of static friction meaning that the frictional force on a moving object can not be as large as the frictional force on the same object while it is stationary and in otherwise similar conditions. Unlike the static frictional force, the kinetic frictional force is always the same when the touching surfaces are the same. The speed of the object is also irrelevant when looking at the kinetic frictional force. As the opposing force changes, the net force and velocity of the object also change. However, the kinetic frictional force remains unchanged.

Example: Static
A car is driving on a flat road at 20 meters per second and the driver sees a deer and needs to come to a stop as soon as possible. If it does not skid, what is the shortest amount of time that the car could take to come to a stop? The car and passengers combined have a mass of 2,000 kilograms, and therefore weigh about 20,000 newtons if the gravitational constant is estimated as ten meters per seconds^2. The coefficient of static friction between rubber and concrete is estimated at 1.

If the brakes are applied in the most efficient manner using static friction the car will stop in about 2 seconds.

Example: Kinetic
Now we can see how long it would take the car to come to a stop using kinetic friction. This time all other aspects of the problem are the same except the car will skid to a stop. The coefficient of kinetic friction between rubber and concrete is estimated at 0.8.

If the car skids to a stop, using kinetic friction, it will stop in about 2.5 seconds.

New Insight
From the examples we have gained insight on how these frictional concepts apply to the world around us. We learned that static friction stops a car, or any other object, more quickly than kinetic friction does. This shows us that hitting the breaks harder will not always stop a car more quickly. When skidding, a car actually takes longer to stop. It also shows us that when pushing a couch, it is harder to get it started than it is to keep it moving.

Conclusion
This information helps us to understand friction on a deeper level. We now see the difference between the frictional force on a moving object and the frictional force on a stationary object.

Citation Page
"Applications of Newton's Laws: Friction." 2 Dec. 2008 <http://gardner.byu.edu/105w1/index_files/class %207.pdf>. "Friction." Wikipedia. 2 Dec. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/friction>. 2 Dec. 2008 <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:// www.mut.ac.th/~physics/physicsmagic/pic%252 0magic/nfw1.gif&imgrefurl>.