College of Sciences

Department of Applied Physics and Astronomy

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS IN
PHYSICS (1)

Friction Experiment
STUDENT LAB REPORT

Student name: Ismail Ali Abdulrazzaq ID:- U23104507

Partner name: Karem Mohammad AlSahen ID:- U23106174

Partner name: Mogammad Taulgah Regal ID:- U23105108

Partner name: Mohamed Ahmed Ali Hassan ID:- U22200318

Section (……01T……) group (……8…….)

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 Part (1)
Computer Interface with Force Sensor Method

Table 1a: Static friction Data

s
Case fs (N) FN (N)
(from eq. 1)
Box (M= 0.652 kg) 2.32 N 6.39 N 0.36
(Just begins to slide)
Box (M= 0.352 1.92 N 3.45 N 0.55
kg)
(Just begins to slide)

Table 1b: Kinetic friction Data

k
Case fk (N) FN (N)
(from eq. 2)
Box (M= 0.652 kg) 1.78 N 6.39 N 0.28
(Constant speed)
Box (M= 0.352 1.05 N 3.45 N 0.30
kg)
(Constant speed)

μ s=0.46 μk =0.29

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Does the coefficient of friction depend on the mass of the object?

The coefficient of friction does not depend on mass. In our experiment, although we used different
masses, we got approximately the same values for the coefficient of friction.

Part (2)

Horizontal Surface Method

Table 2a: Static friction Data

Case Box Mass Hanger Mass s

M (kg) m (kg) (from eq. 3)
Box 0.252 kg 0.117 kg 0.46
(Just begins to slide)

Table 2b: Kinetic friction Data

Case Box Mass Hanger Mass k

M (kg) m (kg) (from eq. 4)
Box 0.252 kg 0.086 kg 0.34
(Constant speed)

Questions:

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1- Draw the free-body diagram for each object shown.

R ough surfaces
2- On what factors does s and k depend?

The coefficients of friction depend on the material of the object and the material of the surface. Also, it
depends on the humidity and temperature.

3- A body of mass 2.0 kg begins to slide down a plane inclined at an angle of 37° with the horizontal.
The force of friction will be

a) 19.6sin 37° b) 9.8sin 37° c) 19.6cos 37° d) 9.8cos 37°

4- A cubical block rests on an inclined plane of μs = 0.50, determine the angle of inclination when the
block just slides down the inclined plane

a) 26.6° b) 30° c) 45° d) 60°

5- A 5.0 kg steel block is resting on a horizontal table. The coefficient of static friction µ s is 0.75 and
the µk is 0.45
i- What minimum force is needed to start this block moving?

F=f s ,max =μ s N =μ s mg=0.75 ×5.0 × 9.8=36.75 N

ii- What is the frictional force on the block as it moves?

f k =μk N=μ k mg=0.45 ×5.0 ×9.8=22.05 N

6- Conclusions:

In this experiment, we wanted to determine the coefficients of friction of a surface. We used 2 methods
to determine them. The first was using the PASCO software. The second was using the horizontal table
method.
We learned that there are 2 types of friction: static friction and kinetic friction. And we learned that the
coefficient of friction does not depend on the mass, but depends on the materials used, the temperature,
the humidity…etc. We also learned that the coefficient of static friction is greater than the coefficient
of kinetic friction, generally.

These were our results:

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Part 1:

μ s=0.46 μk =0.29

Part 2:

μs =0.46 μk =0.34

We can see that the two methods give close results. Some sources of error might be:

Our estimations for the constant speed. It is possible that the object was accelerating and we couldn’t
observe it.

Inappropriate pulling (for Part 1). For instance, pulling with a larger force than needed.

The friction in the pully (for Part 2).

Air resistance.

Random error was surely present in the experiments.

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