FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

FRICTION
Let us take some of our day to day activities walking, running, catching a
train, climbing stairs and many more require us to apply force so that we move
ahead or behind.
During all such activities where there is motion, friction is involved. Friction
is even involved when the body is trying to move from rest but hasnt moved yet.
So we can say, that friction is a force that acts between two surfaces
tangential to the surface and opposes the direction of motion of a body (or relative
motion between the bodies)
When we apply brakes to the wheel of a car, the tires sometimes skid and
the vehicle stops. This is due to friction between wheel and road.
Newtons first law states that Every body continues its state of rest or of
uniform motion along a straight line unless and until it is acted upon by an
external unbalanced force.
Now if we were to slide a book across smooth table according to the
Newtons law it should go on sliding forever. But this does not happen in reality!!
But why? Something must be opposing the motion of book and we surely
arent applying any other external force to stop the book either.
This is where a force called friction originates. In fact whenever two bodies
are moving relative to one another this force develops. It is a force of nature that
comes into play almost everywhere.
When we push the book in the supposedly smooth table the force applied
for pushing, drives the book ahead.
Now if we look closely at the surfaces of both book and the table they really
arent smooth. In fact a microscopic view of these surfaces will show a pretty
rough surface made up crest and trough.

Trough

Crest

The mountain like surface is called as Trough and valley like surface is
Crest.
Now, due to weight of book, the crest and trough of both book and table get
interlocked and when we slide or apply some force to the book this force breaks
the bond formed due to the interlocking of crest and trough of both surfaces.
Breaking causes release of energy which is generally heat. Note that sometimes
even sound can be created e.g.: Screeching of tires when brakes are suddenly
applied.

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

This energy causes work to be done in opposite direction of the force

originally applied to the book and hence opposite in direction of motion of the
book.
Hence rougher the surface more is friction. That is why while playing
carrom we put powder on the board to reduce friction between coins and the
striker. This powder fits in between the trough and crest makes the surface of the
board more even.
Since we can never make a surface smooth ideally, friction will always
exist.

Classification :
Now friction is classified in different types according to the nature of
surface on which it is created. Some are the few types are stated below.

1)

Dry friction :

It is the friction created due to sliding of two or more dry surfaces relative to
each other. Here relatively larger heat is produced due to sliding.
e.g. When we strike two stones on each other, a spark is created which is
generally used to light fire in forest areas by some adventurist.

2)

Wet friction :

This kind of friction is seen generally on surfaces which are immersed in a

liquid or on which liquid flows over. It is generally seen in lubrication systems of
vehicles. E.g.: A clutch connects the flywheel attached to an engine shaft with the
gear box. So when we are supposed to change a gear we apply force on clutch
pedal which in turn separates the rotating flywheel and gear box system. A clutch
is simply a flat circular plate made up of frictional material. Now after changing
gears when we again place the clutch i.e. join the rapidly rotating flywheel and
gear box due to sudden high friction between clutch plate and flywheel, huge heat
is generated. Some oil is usually passed over this clutch for cooling. This is an
example of wet friction.
While in many machining process ,a coolant is generally passed over the
machined surface for reducing friction as well as for reducing heat.
And a typical example is when we go to the salon for shaving. The barber
usually applies a lotion or gel on the cheeks and necks and then shaves with a
razor!!!

3)

Fluid friction :

The friction between layers of fluid (fluid can be gas or liquid) is called as
fluid friction.
Pour a bottle of honey on the floor. You will see layer of honey sliding over
each other. The friction between layer is also commonly stated as viscosity.
A further category of fluid friction can also be called as skin or drag
friction.
It means friction caused when a fluid moves over an object and friction
caused at the boundary. This type of friction usually arises in high speed vehicles
e.g.: high speed cars like Ferrari and others have to be aerodynamically

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

designed. As they move very fast the air around them brushes over the body of
the car causing drag.
Similarly in many racing events the structure of cars is suitably modified for
minimizing drag friction.

4) Internal Friction :
When an object say a spring balance is loaded (loading is application of
some weight here) and removed internal friction comes into picture. When we
apply the load, the molecules inside the spring are strained and they brush aside
each others by a very minimal amount, generating friction similarly when the
spring is unloaded the molecules again come back to their original position and
again same brushing takes place.
We are going to study dry friction in depth. There were many theories
proposed for dry friction out of which Coulombs theory of dry friction is mostly
used.
According to this theory there are some laws of friction. We will discuss
them here.

Law No. 1 : Friction does not depend upon the area of contact but on nature of
surface.
This is evident from the relation
f = N
i.e. friction depends only on normal reaction and

Law No. 2 : Frictional force is directly proportional to normal reaction

fN
i.e.
f = N {where is constant of proportionality}
is also called as coefficient of friction.
f

N
Friction is an unreliable force and is never constant. It depends upon the
conditions at that particular instant for e.g. if we allow to slide a glass plate over
an inclined glass surface during summer, winter, rainy or during dust be ing
present the value of it may differ a bit.
Hence is found out for two materials specifically and it always has a
range.

Law No. 3 : The value of static coefficient of friction (s) is always more than
dynamic or kinetic coefficient of friction (k)
i.e.
s > k

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

Let us understand s and k with an illustration.

Consider a block of weight W Kept on a surface. Its FBD is as shown.
N is the normal reaction.
Now apply a very small force P to the block. The
block will not move. Go on increasing the applied force P
and you will observe that the block wont move until a
particular instant when the value of P has increased so
much that the block just moves.

Now why did not the block move initially when you applied a small force. In
fact in reality very small forces do not move objects. E.g.: A bottle of water does
not move or slide on a table till we apply a particular force to it.
The object or block in this case didnt move because friction wasnt letting
it. Remember the blocks crest have now been interlocked with trough on the
ground.
Hence as we slowly go on increasing value of P so does value of
f (frictional force) also increase accordingly so as to maintain equilibrium. A graph
of applied force (P) v/s frictional force (f).

Now, suddenly as we just increase the value of P the block suddenly

moves just a bit. This is called impending motion. It means that the frictional force
is no longer able to hold the block in equilibrium.
The value of friction at this instant is the maximum and is called limiting
friction and the coefficient of friction is called as s
Note that as related with Newtons third law every action has equal and
opposite reaction, frictional force goes on opposing the increased applied force P
and hence maximum the instant the block just moves as now the body is going to
have a resultant force, say P' which is P (f) .

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

Above phenomenon on graph is shown as

Friction/

0 - 1 Body is Static.
Value of applied force P is constantly increased and so does value of f go
on increasing.
At 1 Frictional force can no longer increase and the body is set in motion.
Condition of limiting friction and f = s N.
1 - 2 Body in motion. Value of friction drops drastically and s becomes k
2 - 3 A plateau is reached as value of friction does not change much and
f = K N.
Since the body is set in motion, under inertia, the block continues to move
ahead so friction force is overcome either ways there is less time for interlocking
between crest and trough of surfaces of two bodies hence k < s.
It has been also noted that at more high speeds the value of K drops further.

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

ANGLE OF FRICTION :
Consider a block having weight W and N as normal reaction. Let P be the
applied force and f be frictional force and be coefficient of friction.
F.B.D of block.

Let R be Resultant of forces N and f which is shown as below

The angle between R and N is called as angle of friction.

Assuming that the block is just about the move after application of P.
A triangle is formed by showing the forces in magnitude (this is according
to triangle law of vector addition)

Here the triangle will be closed as the body is still in equilibrium. R, f and N
are lengths of sides of triangle.
f

tan
N
N
tan S

tan = S

= tan-1 (s)

This analytical relation is useful while solving problems on friction.

Thus angle of friction is the angle between the resultant of normal reaction
and frictional force, with the normal reaction.

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

CONE OF FRICTION :
Now if in the above case, the applied force P is rotated by 180, the
resultant force R also rotates by 180

Similarly if we go on rotating force P by 360, the force R will also rotate

360 forming the slant edge of a cone.

Hence as you can see a cone having vertex angle of 2 is formed.

Significance :
Now if we recollect the resultant force R above is shown for impending
motion.
But if the force P is less, i.e. less for causing impending motion, the
frictional force will also be less and hence the resultant will lie inside the cone of
friction. ( refer figure for force triangle in Angle of Friction)
Hence,
1)
For a body having impending motion, Resultant lies on the surface of cone
of friction having vertex angle 2.
2)
For a stationary body, resultant lies inside the cone of friction.
Note : for a body in motion, the resultant will lies inside the cone as K < S and
thus the frictional force will be less and so will the resultant (As resultant force
depends upon frictional force and normal reaction)

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

Angle of repose
Now consider a block having weight W placed on an incline plane with the
horizontal. The incline plane can be rotated or lifted.

Let be the coefficient of friction between block and inclined plane.

Now if we go on raising the incline plane, the body or block will remain
stationary till a particular angle of incline plane with horizontal.
After that the block will just start to move without any external force applied
to it. The angle made by incline plane with horizontal at that particular instant is
called as Angle of Repose or .

At a particular angle say the block will just start its motion without the
application of external force.

Thus angle of repose is the angle made by the incline plane with the
horizontal such that the body just tends to move downwards without the
application of external force.
In practice, the value of is found out using angle of repose on friction
apparatus.
{Friction apparatus has a movable inclined plane on which we keep a block
of any weight. This block slides down after the inclined plane is lifted.}

FRICTION

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

F.B.D. of the block in inclined plane

just when block is about to slide down.

Fx 0 ( Positive)

f W sin = 0
sN W sin = 0
sN = W sin

(1)

Fy 0 ( Positive)

N W cos = 0

N W cos = 0
(2)
Divide (1) by (2)
W sin = sN
W cos = N

tan = s

= tan 1 s
Hence, if we know angle of repose we can get s.
Remember angle of repose requires that no external force should be
present. It means when the block is sliding down it should not be pull or pushed.
Again,
Even angle of friction = tan-1 s

For impending motion,

=
Generally the slides in playground or children parks, where a person sits
on an inclined plane or highly polished surface and slides down on his own, are
actual applications of angle of repose.
Some other applications include a dumper truck releasing sand or gravel on the
ground.