UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS 1– ELEC 1107(1)

FRICTION EXPERIMENT
Aim
To investigate the difference between sliding and rolling friction
Experiment Setup

Figure 1.

Experiment Procedure
1. Fix the parts to the work panel as shown in Figure 1. Count the holes to make sure that
everything fits correctly

H.S 26.09.2016
 UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS 1– ELEC 1107(1)
2. Set the plane at an angle of 0 degrees. The angle of the plane is critical in this
experiment. Make sure the plane is bare metal and its surface is clean
3. Attach the cord to the sled
4. Attach the metal friction plate under the sled. Add 40 x 10 g masses to the sled. Put
the sled on the plane to the far left
5. Lay the cord over the pulley at the right of the plane and add an empty weight hanger.
Adjust the height of the end pulley to make sure that the cord runs parallel to the
plane. This is very important for good results
6. While tapping the work panel, slowly add weights to the weight hanger until the sled
just starts to move. Remember to use 1 g weights for fine adjustments
7. Record the total hanger weight needed to move the sled in Table 1
8. Now try the same experiment, but without the metal plate. The sled can now roll on
its wheels. Make sure the cord is parallel to the plane.
9. Again, repeat the experiment, with the metal plate on the bottom of the sled, but
resting on the set of rollers. Make sure the cord is parallel to the plane.
10. Repeat the experiments again, but with the rubber surface on the plane and record
your results in Table 2. Make sure the cord is parallel to the plane.
11. Repeat all the experiments as many times required to get reliable results.
Table 1

Table 2

H.S 26.09.2016
 UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS 1– ELEC 1107(1)
Questions and conclusions
1. Compare the weights needed to move the sled. What does this say about rolling and
sliding friction?
2. How does the rubber surface affect the force needed?
3. Why is the roller set not a perfect example of rolling friction?
4. Why is it critical to have a perfectly horizontal plane?

H.S 26.09.2016