Forces of Friction 18

• Static friction, fs
• Kinetic friction, fk
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The following empirical laws hold true about friction:
- Friction force, f, is proportional to normal force, n.
fs ≤ µsn fk = µk n
- µs and µk: coefficients of static and kinetic friction, respectively
- Direction of frictional force is opposite to direction of relative
motion
- Values of µs and µk depend on nature of surface.
- µs and µk don’t depend on the area of contact
- µs and µk don’t depend on speed.
- Friction is due to the surfaces interacting with each other on the
microscopic level (sliding over bumps, chemical bonds)