Professional Documents
Culture Documents
P0IITU04 - Friction
P0IITU04 - Friction
FRICTION
1) Introduction
2) Static friction
Solved Problems
3) Kinetic friction
Solved Problems
4) Exercises
5) Assessment test
Introduction
When one surface slides over another or has a tendency to, a force parallel
to the interface acts on the two surfaces which resists the sliding. This force
is called friction.
This force is due to the roughness of the surfaces, the tiny bumps and valleys
in a surface that prevent one surface from smoothly sliding over the other
and inter molecular attractive forces between the surfaces.
These are forces between the molecules of one body and those of another,
so friction is ultimately electromagnetic in nature. The normal reaction is
also the result of all the electromagnetic forces between the molecules at the
surface of one body with those of another. In fact, if one body exerts a force
F on another , the component perpendicular to the surface of contact is
called the normal reaction and the component parallel to the surfaces is
called friction.
There is only one external force in the horizontal direction: friction. hence,
it must be acting in the forward direction. How can that be?
Lets consider another example. A car accelerates forward. What is the force
that provided this acceleration? If you are tempted to say, Why, the
engine!, imagine the same car out in space, drifting along. You hit the
accelerator, the wheels spin, you go nowhere. Your engine is not much
good. Put the same car on a frictionless surface ( a lake of ice ), the wheels
spin, you go nowhere. Put the car on a road with plenty of friction, then
watch it go.
Friction is the external force that accelerates the car forward. It must then
point in the forward direction. How can that be?
To understand these two examples, you must look not at the objects as a
whole, but at the two surfaces where the friction acts:
When you walk, you place your foot on the ground and push backwards.
The foot tends to slide backward. The ground exerts an opposing frictional
force, in the forward direction. Friction opposes the relative sliding of two
surfaces in contact.
In the case of the wheel too, you can see that the bottom surface of the wheel
tends to slide backwards along the road when we accelerate. The road
resists this with friction, which acts forwards on the wheel. Of course, the
reaction to this is the backward acting frictional force on the road.
There is much more to the acceleration of a car. What happens when we hit the brakes?
The car is now decelerating. Which means that the frictional force on the wheels is now
backwards. However, the wheels are still spinning forwards, since the car is still moving
forwards. Im afraid you will have to wait till the chapter on Rigid Body Dynamics for
the full explanation. In the meantime, ponder over it.
Static friction
Place a book on a table. What is the force of friction that is acting on the
book now?
Answer: The frictional force must be equal to and opposite to the force
exerted by you.
Now increase the force you are exerting a little. The book stays put. what
can you say about the frictional force now?
Answer: Since the book does not have any acceleration, the frictional force
is equal to the applied force, pointing in the opposite direction. Friction has
adjusted itself to equal the external force.
As you keep increasing the force, so does friction, up until a point, when the
book suddenly moves. So we conclude that friction is able to adjust itself up
to a maximum value.
What are the factors that affect this maximum value? Lets call the
maximum value fmax. This is the ceiling for friction under the given
circumstances. Does fmax depend on the area of contact? Does it depend on
the weight of the book? Does it depend on the quality of the surfaces (how
polished or rough they are)?
Attach a spring scale to a block and pull gently. The reading on the scale
tells you what force you are applying. Gently increase this force, and note
its value when the block starts moving. Repeat the experiment several times
to get an average value.
Repeat the experiment with the block lying on another side, with a different
area of contact. We find the force required to start it moving is independent
of the area of contact, as long as the surfaces in contact are similar. That is,
fmax is independent of area of contact.
Place another block of the same mass on top of this one. Repeat the
experiment. You find that the force is approximately twice as large. Try out
various weights on the book. You will find that fmax is proportional to the
force of contact between the two surfaces (the normal reaction).
fmax N
The proportionality constant, denoted s, is a number that is dependent on
the surfaces. It is called the coefficient of static friction.
fmax = s N
The smoother the two surfaces, the smaller is s .
Remember that fmax is the maximum value that friction can have given the
two surfaces and N, the force with which they are pressed together. The
friction itself can have any value upto fmax. It will adjust itself to prevent any
relative sliding of the surfaces. Hence,
f s N
Summary:
Given two surfaces in contact, there is a number called the coefficient of
static friction, which will enable us to calculate the maximum frictional
force, or the ceiling for friction. The harder the two surfaces are pressed
together, larger is N, hence larger is the maximum frictional force.
Examples
1) Hold a book against a wall by applying a force perpendicular to the wall
R
f
mg
This increases the maximum possible friction between wall and book. If it is
higher than the weight of the book, then the frictional force becomes equal
to the weight of the book, thereby balancing it.
Lets say that s = 0.5 between the wall and the book. Lets say that the book
weighs 100 N. [ N stands for newtons here, not normal reaction]. We need a
frictional force of 100 N to hold it up. Which means that fmax has to be at
least 100 N.
fmax = 0.5 R, so R has to be at least 200 N. So F has to be at least 200 N,
since F = R. Hence, we need to apply at least 200 n of force against the
book.
What if we apply more than 200 N ? f max will be more than 100 N. But the
frictional force f will remain at 100 N, balancing the book.
One method of negotiating the climb is to place yourself as shown in the pic
above, and push against the walls with your feet and back so that you do not
slide down.
What you are doing is increasing the normal force between your back and
the wall ( and that between your feet and the other wall ) so that the
maximum friction value is raised. If it becomes more than your weight, then
friction adjusts itself to equal your weight, so that you are in equilibrium.
3) You are standing in a moving bus, holding on to the cylindrical hand
railing on top. The driver suddenly brakes. To prevent yourself from falling
forwards, you grip the railing harder. Why?
To prevent yourself from falling forwards, you need an external backward
force exerted on you. The friction between your palm and the railing is that
backward force. It acts since your hand tends to slide along the railing. if
you grip hard, you are making the normal reaction large, hence raising the
ceiling for friction. Now friction can adjust itself to the needed value.
4) You are holding a tube. Someone is trying to pull it, so that it slides
through your grip. To prevent that, you tighten your grip. By increasing a
force that is perpendicular to the tube (the normal reaction), you are able to
increase a force that is parallel to it (the friction).
5)You are hanging from the hand of Sylvester Stallone over a deep deep
ravine. Your hand is slipping. Stallone tightens the grip. He is increasing N
so that Fmax is increased so that friction may adjust itself to a sufficiently
large value to prevent you from falling to your death. Unfortunately, due to
your perspiring hands, s is small. So despite the bone -crushing force Sly is
applying, Fmax remains too small and its Sayonara, babe!
5) Perform this simple experiment at home: take a smooth plank and place a
smooth block or a book on it. Now slowly ( very very slowly) raise one end,
keeping the other end fixed. Hold a protractor against the block so you can
measure the angle at which it starts to slide. If the angle is , what is the
coefficient of static friction s ?
KINETIC FRICTION
It takes less force to start a body moving ( when there is friction) than to
keep it moving. Once the two surfaces are sliding against each other what
you have is a frictional force that is simply proportional to N.
F = k N.
Note that we do not have an inequality here. Things are simple now. No
more self adjusting force. Also, for a given pair of surfaces, the coefficient
of kinetic friction, denoted by k, is smaller than s.
eg. What force is required to keep a 3 kg book moving at a constant velocity
of 4 m/s on a table? The coefficient of kinetic friction is given as 0.2.
F
Friction
Ans.
f
mg
In the y-direction:
N + 20 cos (30) - mg = 0
zero]
In the x-direction:
20 sin(30) - f = 0
From this,
f = 10 newtons.
From the first equation,
N = 19.6 - 203 / 2
k = f / N = 10 / 2.28 = 4.39
Anything wrong with k turning out to be larger than 1?
Example 2
A 3 kg block slides down a 600 ramp. The coefficient of kinetic friction is
0.2. What is the acceleration of the block?
Ans.
The force diagram is shown below:
f
mg
x-axis
N - mg cos() = 0
Lets do the same problem in the usual coordinate system ( x- direction along
the horizontal ) shown:
y-axis
x- axis
In this coordinate system, the acceleration of the block ( along the incline )
has two non zero components: a cos () in the x - direction and - a sin() in
the y-direction. Similarly, N as well as f now have two non-zero
components, as opposed to the previous coordinate system, where only one
of their two components was non-zero. The equations are:
x-direction: N sin () - f cos () = m a cos()
N (3 / 2) - 0.2 N (1/2) = 3 a (1/2)
y-direction: N cos () - mg + f sin () = - ma sin ()
N (1/2) - 29.4 + 0.2 N (3/2) = - 3a (3/2)
we need to solve these two equations for N and a.
You can see that with this coordinate system the equations are not only
harder to set up, but are also harder to solve. We get the same answers
upon solving them, of course.
An interesting problem:
The top block has a mass of 5 kg and the bottom block has the mass of 10
kg. The coefficients of static and kinetic friction are 0.6 and 0.4
respectively, between any of the pairs of surfaces. A force of 100 N is
applied to the bottom block as shown. If the blocks are initially at rest, what
are their accelerations immediately after the force is applied?
Ans.
The free body force diagrams:
N1
f1
100
f2
f1
W1=50
N1
W2 =100
N2
Please take some time to understand the force diagrams. Make sure you
understand where each force is coming from.
The frictional force f1 acting on the top block is to the right because the
bottom block tends to drag the top block along with it. The reaction force on
the bottom block is to the left.
N1 is the vertical force exerted by the bottom block on the top block ( and
the corresponding reaction force).
f2 is the force of friction that the floor exerts on the bottom block.
If you are ever unsure of the direction of the frictional forces between two
surfaces, look carefully at the surfaces in contact: friction opposes the
relative sliding.
There are three possibilities here: the blocks do not move, the two blocks
move as one, and two have different accelerations. Which case is it?
In problems like this one, we have to consider each case separately. One of
them will give us sensible answers and the other will give us nonsensical
answers.
Case 1: Does the blocks move in the first place? N2 = 150N, s=0.6, so
fmax = 90N. The external force is 100N, so they do move.
Case 2: They move as one.
This assumption implies that the force of friction f1 has not reached fmax.
So we cannot put f1 equal to 0.6 N1.
The two blocks have the same acceleration, a. So treating them as one block,
100 - (0.4) (150) = 15 a. The total mass is 15 kg, the normal reaction force
between the ground and the lower block N2 is 150 newtons.
This gives us a = 40 / 15 = 2.67 m / s2.
Every thing looks fine but before we move on to the next problem, we need
to check if this answer is meaningful. If the acceleration of the top block is
2.67 m/s2, then the frictional force acting on it must be 5 x 2.67 = 13.33N.
We should check if this is greater or less that fmax for the top block.
fmax = 0.6 x 50 = 30N. The frictional force is in fact, less than fmax, hence our
answer is consistent. Had it turned out otherwise, we would have to
consider Case 3 to see if it gave a consistent answer.
Just for the fun of it, lets examine Case 3: They have different accelerations.
This means that there is relative sliding between the blocks, so
f1 = k N1 = 0.4 x 50 = 20N
This means that the bottom blocks acceleration is given by:
100 f1 f2 = 100 (0.4 x 150) 20 = 10 a
a = 2 m/s2.
The top blocks acceleration is given by: f1 = 5a giving a = 4 m/s2. This tells
us that upon pulling the bottom block, the top block has a larger acceleration
forward than the bottom block! This is not only nonsensical, but more
importantly, it is inconsistent with the direction of the friction f1 that we
assumed between the blocks.
Inertia
The following experiment is often used to explain inertia:
A postcard is placed over a tumbler. A coin is placed over the card. The
card is now smartly flicked away horizontally or simply pulled away fast.
The coin drops into the tumbler. The teacher then asks the students why the
coin dropped into the tumbler and did not move with the card. The students
all chorus, Inertia!. The teacher nods, satisfied, and moves on to the next
lesson.
Here is another explanation:
When you drag the card out slowly, the coin stays on the card, it does not
drop into the glass. Let the coefficient of static friction between the card and
the coin be s. The coins mass is m. The maximum value of static friction
is therefore, s mg. When you pull the card, the friction on the coin drags it
along with the card.
f
If the cards acceleration is small, friction is able to provide the card the
necessary acceleration so that it moves with the card. That is, it prevents
relative sliding. If the cards acceleration is large, then friction, having a
ceiling, is not able to give the coin the same acceleration. What is this
threshold acceleration? Ans. s g
The card then slides wrt the coin. Now kinetic friction takes over. The
acceleration of the coin is k g. Since the cards acceleration is more than
this, it moves out from under the coin fast.
Let the time taken for the card to clear the glass be t. During t the coin
moves k g t2. If this is less than the distance to the edge of the glass, it
falls in. Otherwise, it falls outside the glass. So for the trick to work, t
should be small, or in other words, the card should be made to clear the glass
fast. Once the card has gone past the coin, the coin is in parabolic free fall.
Easy Problems
1) A 4 kg block rests on a floor. The coefficient of static friction s is 0.6.
What horizontal force is required to move it? What force, acting at an angle
of 450 will be required to pull it?
F
Is there an angle at which no matter how strong the applied force acts, the
block will not move?
3) A 10 kg block is placed on an 450incline. s = 1.2. What force parallel to
the incline is needed to start the block moving?
5) The force required to keep a 10 kg block at constant speed is 5N. What is the
coefficient of kinetic friction between it and the floor?
6) A box with weight 220 N rests on the floor. The coefficient of static
friction between the box and the floor is 0.41 and the coefficient of kinetic
friction is 0.32. a) What is the minimum magnitude of the horizontal force
required to push it with to start it moving? b) Once moving, what is the
minimum horizontal force required to keep it moving with constant
velocity? c) If we continued to apply the force required to start it moving,
what would the acceleration be? Ans. a) 90 N b) 70 N c) 0.89 m/s2.
7) A book is held against a vertical wall by a horizontal force
as shown. (static) is 0.8. If the mass of the book is 5 kg,
what minimum force is required? What happens to the force
of friction if we apply twice the required minimum force?
9) A 110g disk slides on the ice for 15 m before it stops. a) If its initial
speed was 6.0 m/s, what is the coefficient of kinetic friction between disk
and ice? Ans. 0.12.
10) A 3.5 kg block is pushed along the floor by a force F = 15N that makes
an angle of 400 with the floor. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.25.
What is the magnitude of the frictional force and the acceleration of
the block? 11 N, rightward, 0.14 m/s2.
Ans. 8.6 N, 46 N, 39 N.
12) A box is pulled along a floor with constant velocity by exerting a force
on it at an angle of 450 with the vertical. If the box weighs 750 N, and the
coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.15, what is the force used?
Ans. 138 N.
13) A body slides up an inclined plane forming an angle of 450 with the
horizontal with an acceleration of g2 down along the incline. If its mass
is m, what is the force of friction acting on it? Ans. Mg/2 down along the
incline.
14) A 2 kg block slides down a 300 incline at a constant velocity. What is
the coefficient of kinetic friction?
15) A 3 kg block is projected up an incline with the initial speed of 8 m/s as
shown:
The incline makes a 450 angle with the horizontal. If the coeff of kinetic
friction is 0.3, and the coefficient of static friction 0.6, then how far up along
the incline does it move before coming to a stop? How long did it take to
reach this point?
16) In the problem above, does the block slide back down? Or does it stay
put once it comes to rest ? If it slides back down, how much time does it
take to come back down to its starting point? What is its final velocity?
17)
Two blocks, A and B, are tied to each other via a string as shown. The top
block is 8 kg and the lower one is 4 kg. They slide down a 300 incline. If the
coefficient of kinetic friction between the pairs of surfaces is 0.3, what is the
acceleration of the blocks and what is the tension in the string? Do the
problem for the case that the blocks are placed with the 8 kg block below
the other.
18) The masses are 1 kg each, the angle of the incline with the horizontal is
300 and the surfaces are frictionless. Find the acceleration of the blocks and
the tension in the string.
Ans.1.02 m/s2.
21) A 2 kg block is given an initial velocity of 10 m/s up along a 450 incline.
k = 0.4, s = 0.6 . How long does it slide up? Does it slide back down? If
so, how long does it take to come back to its starting point?
22) The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.2. What is the acceleration of the
block if it is a) sliding down the slope and b) it has been given an upward
shove and it is still sliding up the slope? The makes 600 with the horizon.
Ans. a)(53 - 1) m/s2 down the incline. b)(53 + 1) m/s2 down the incline.
23) A body slides over an inclined plane forming an angle of 450 with the
horizon. After a distance of 36.4 cm the body acquires a velocity of 2 m/s.
What is the coefficient of friction between the body and the incline?
Ans. 0.2.
24) Equal weights, 1 kg each. No friction on the side of the table.
Coefficient of friction between the block on top and the table top is 0.1.
Find the acceleration of the weights and the tension in the cord. Ans. 4.4
m/s2, 5.4 N.
What is the maximum force that can be applied to the top block so that the
blocks move as one? What is the maximum force that can be applied to the
bottom block so that they move as one?
26) The same problem as above, except that now there is friction between
the bottom block and the floor: k = 0.1.
27) Two blocks sit on top of one another as shown.
The coefficient of static friction between the top
2 kg block and the bottom 6 kg block is 0.6. There is no friction between the
bottom block and the floor. A 10 N force is applied to the top block as shown.
What happens? What is the force exerted by the bottom block on the top block?
28)In the above problem the applied force is increased to 20 N. If the coefficient of
kinetic friction is 0.5, then what are the initial accelerations of the blocks?
29) A force of 20 N is applied to the block on the left as shown.
The block on the left has a mass of 2 kg and a k = 0.1
with the floor. The block on the right has a mass 4 kg
and a k = 0.2 with the floor. What is their acceleration and what is the force
between the blocks?
30) A 3 kg body is lowered onto a conveyer belt moving at a constant velocity of
2 m/s. The coefficient of kinetic friction between
the body and the belt is 0.2. How far along the
belt will the body slide before it stops wrt the
belt (that is it is finally moving with the belt at the
same speed).
31)
40
30
33)
F
45
What will happen if the train were to move with a larger acceleration? What
is the value of the frictional force under these conditions?
39) For what range of accelerations will the 10 kg box shown not slide? The
front surface of the train has a slope of 2. s = 0.4.
41) A road with a radius of curvature 10m is banked so that vehicles moving
at 10 m/s can safely negotiate the turn. If s = 0.4, what are the maximum
and minimum speeds with which vehicles can safely make the turn?
Ans. 20/3 N.
43) A balloon of mass 1600 kg is descending at constant speed. How much
mass must be thrown out if it is to ascend at constant speed? Assume that
the buoyancy force acting on it is (1200 x 9.8 ) N and that the force of air
friction is taken to be of the same magnitude when it goes up and down.
Ans. 800 kg.
44) What is the minimum force F that has to be applied to the 4 kg block so
that it does not slide down the side of the bigger 10 kg block? s = 0.4
between the blocks. The floor is frictionless.
F
45) A 2 kg block slides down a 300 incline inside an elevator that has a
downward acceleration of 4 m/s2. If the incline is 2m long and the block
starts from rest in the elevator frame, how long does it take to reach the
bottom of the incline?
46) A 2 kg block rests on the inclined surface of a 450 wedge of mass 10 kg.
s = 1.2 between the block and the wedge. What is the maximum force F
with which you can pull the wedge so that the block does not slide down the
incline? The floor is frictionless.
47) What is the angular velocity with which a cylindrical drum must rotate
about its axis if a block is to stay stuck to its side without slipping down?
s = 0.6. R = 2m.
48) The blocks A,B and C weigh 3 kg, 4kg and 8 kg respectively. The
coefficient of sliding friction between any two surfaces is 0.25. A is held at
rest by a massless rigid rod fixed to the wall, while B and C are connected
by a massless cord passing over a fixed massless pulley. Find the force P
needed to pull C at a constant speed.
(IIT 78)
A
B
C
49) Two blocks A and B are connected by a string and a spring. The string
passes over a frictionless pulley fixed to a stationary block C.
B
The coefficient of sliding friction between the surfaces is 0.2, the mass of A
is 2 kg, the masses are moving with uniform speed. What is the mass of B
and what is the energy stored in the spring? k = 1960 N/m.
(IIT 82)
50) A spinning sphere is placed at the corner shown. Its mass is 4 kg. What
are the frictional forces acting on it if between the surfaces is 0.3?
300
Difficult problems
51) A 2 kg block slides down an incline onto a conveyor belt which is
moving at 2 m/s. If the block reaches the belt at a speed of 6 m/s and
= 0.4, how far will it slide along the belt before it stops sliding with
respect to the belt?
If the blocks are being released at the top every 2 seconds, how far apart are
they at the far right end of the belt, when they have stopped sliding?
52) The angle of the incline is 600. The block on the incline is 10 kg, has
k = 0.4 with wedge. The wedge has the mass 20 kg. The vertically hanging
mass is 4 kg, has the same kinetic friction coefficient with the side of the
wedge. What is the acceleration of the wedge?
53) A 40 N force is applied to the top block. What are the accelerations of
the blocks? From the bottom up, the blocks have the masses 4 kg, 2 kg and
1kg. The coefficient of static friction between the blocks is 0.2 and the
kinetic coefficient is 0.1. There is no friction between the floor and the
bottom block.
55) A block of mass m slides back and forth without friction from one end to
the other of a semi-circular cut in a square wedge.
If the wedge has the mass M, what is the minimum static friction coefficient
between wedge and floor so that it does not move?
56) The pulleys and ropes are massless. The block on the incline weighs
8 kg and the one on the floor 2 kg. The 300 wedge weighs 10 kg. What is
58) A hollow drum in the shape of a frustrum rotates about its axis with the
minimum angular velocity 1 required to keep a block of mass 1 kg from
sliding down its side. s = 0.4. The wall makes an angle of 300 with the
vertical. The block is initially at a level where the radius is 2m. At what
angular velocity 2 will it start to slide up? If it is disturbed so that it starts
to slide if the angular velocity is maintained at 2, then how long will it take
to slide up to the level where R = 4m? k = 0.2.
59) A rope of length L and mass m lies on a table with just the length of rope
hanging in order to cause the rope to slide from the table. is given. What
fraction of the length hangs from the table at this point?
How long will it take the entire rope to slide off the table? Make any
reasonable assumptions.
60) A 5 kg weight and a 10 kg weight hang from a pulley. The pulley is
weightless, the rope is massless, the coefficient of static friction between
rope and pulley is 0.4. What is the acceleration of the blocks?
Assessment
1) The jaws of a vice clamp down on and exert 200N of force each on a
rectangular copper block. If the coefficient of static friction between the
block's surface and the jaw's surface is 0.6, what force must I apply to pull
the block out? Neglect the weight of the block.
2) A reluctant cow, of mass 400 kg, stands on hoofs that are 25 cm2 in area
each. If the coefficient of static friction between the hoofs and the floor is
0.6, with what force would you have to tug on its tail to make it moove?
3) A 4 kg block slides down a 300 wedge which is accelerating to the right as
shown at 5 m/s2. If the block started from rest wrt the wedge, how long will
it take to slide 1m along the incline? = 0.2.