Experiment 2 : Friction

Introduction:
According to the velocity, friction can be classified into two categories. The first one
is static friction when the velocity is zero which the object is at rest and the second
one is kinetic friction when the velocity is not equal to zero. According to the type of
motion, friction also can be separated into two categories which is the sliding friction
in the case of sliding motion and the rolling friction in the case of rolling motion.

Objective:
1. To find the static and kinetic friction forces (FS and FK) as function of: a)Area,
b)Weight, c)Material, and do the comparison friction forces (FS and FK) for different
areas, weights and materials.
2. To compare the rolling and kinetic (sliding) friction forces (FR and FK) as a function
of weight.
3. To find the coefficient of the friction forces in the case of rolling.

Procedure:
Set 1- Static and sliding friction forces as a function of the area, the weight and the
material (refer to figure 1),
1. The small block in the experiment surface with the rubber side is placed down
and the static and sliding force, FS and FK are measured.
2. The wooden block on the base surface with the wide wooden side and then the
narrow wooden side is placed down and the measurements for FS and FK are
repeated.
3. The measurements with the large block are repeated for the friction
experiments.
4. The results of FS and FK is plotted as a function of area, weight and material.
5. The corresponding S and K is determined and the results as a function of area,
weight and material is plotted.
 Figure 1: Measuring the static friction force (top) and the sliding friction force
(bottom).
Set 2- Static and sliding forces as a function of the force of gravity, (refer to figure 2)
1. The large block on the experiment surface with plastic down is placed and the
static and sliding friction force is measured.
2. The weights of the block is increased by adding in turn the weights of 0.1kg,
0.02kg, 0.5kg and 0.8kg and the measurements is repeated.
3. The same measurements is repeated for the wooden side of the block as well.
The results of FS, FK,  , and  as a function of the force of gravity (weight) is
S K

plotted.

Figure 2: Measuring the static friction force (top) and the sliding friction force
(bottom) as a function of the force of gravity.

Set 3- Rolling and sliding friction of the force of gravity, (refer to figure 3)
1. The stand rods next to each other is lay and the large block on the rods with
the plastic side is placed down.
2. The horizontal pulling force which maintains a uniform motion is measured on
the rolling rods as the rolling friction force FR.
3. The weight of the block is increased by adding in turn the weights 0.1kg,
0.2kg, 0.5kg and 1.0kg and the measurements are repeated.
 4. The block is aligned parallel to the rod axes and the sliding friction force FK is
measured.
5. The graph of sliding friction force and rolling friction force is drawn as a
function of the force of gravity.

Figure 3: Measuring the rolling friction force (top) and the sliding friction force
(bottom) as a function of the force of gravity

Result and Observation: