Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Force of Friction
Laws of Static and Dynamic Friction
Limits of Friction
Friction – a necessity & evil
INTRODUCTION
When an object (e.g., wooden block) moves over the
surface of another object (e.g., floor) , its motion is always
opposed by a retarding force that resists motion.
This retarding force is called friction and always acts in a
direction opposite to motion.
For example, an object sliding down an inclined plane
experiences a frictional force directed up the inclined
plane.
Similarly, an object that moves to the right on a level
floor experiences the frictional force to the left.
Friction can operate between two solids, between a
solid and a fluid or between two layers of a fluid.
However, in this chapter, we shall discuss only the
friction between solid surface.
FRICTION
When a solid object moves over the surface of
another solid object, its motion is always opposed
by the retarding force, called friction.
Hence friction is an opposing force that comes
into play when one body moves or attempts to
move over the surface of another body. The
frictional force is always parallel to the surfaces in
contact.
Let us discuss how frictional force behaves.
Consider a wooden block of mass m placed on a
horizontal surface as shown in Figure 1.
Fig.1
1. Static friction :
The opposing force that comes into play when an
object does not move over the surface of another even
though force is applied to make it move is called static
friction.
Consider a wooden block lying on a horizontal surface.
If we apply a small horizontal force (say 1N) on the
block and the block does not move, it means that a
force (=1N) has come into play to oppose the motion.
This is the force of friction and is called static friction
Fs
As the applied force is increased, the static friction
also increases (being always equal and opposite to the
applied force) till a stage is reached when the block is
about to move.
The value of static friction is now maximum and is
called limiting friction or critical friction Fc .
Note that static friction is always adjusts itself equal
to the applied force upto the value of limiting friction.
Thus limiting friction is the maximum static friction
that comes into play when one body is just at the verge
of moving over the surface of another body.
Once the limiting friction is overcome by the applied
force, the block begins to move and limiting friction Fc
is converted into kinetic friction Fk .
The subsequent motion of the block is determined by
the applied force (F) and the kinetic friction Fk.
It is reminded that Fk < F
c