What is Friction?
Whenever two or more objects interact, their irregular surfaces slide and scrape against one another, impeding the motion of the objects. Friction is this force that opposes the motion. The amount of friction between two objects depends upon how smooth or rough the surfaces are, and the pressure between them. Since no surface is perfectly smooth, all objects experience friction when interacting with other objects.
Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. It is not, however, a fundamental force, as it originates from the electromagnetic forces and exchange force between atoms. In situations where the surfaces in contact are moving relative to each other, the friction between the two objects converts kinetic energy into heat (atomic vibrations). Friction between solid objects and fluids (gases or liquids) is called fluid friction. See also aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Friction is an extremely important force – it propels automobiles and other ground transport and holds nails, screws and nuts, along with many other uses.
Friction is a force. It is a force that slows motion and dampens energy. When wind blows through a tree the tree impedes the wind flow. This causes the wind to slow down. Friction releases some of the energy. This release can be in the form of noise, vibration, and energy transfer. When the wind hits the tree you can hear the noise of the wind blowing through the leaves and branches and you can see the movement of the leaves and branches. Some of the energy the wind had is transferred into moving the tree. Friction can also transfer energy into heat energy. If you rub your hands together you will notice that the skin on your hands warms up. Some of the energy of motion in your hands is transferred to heat energy through the friction process. When you bounce a ball on the ground you will notice that after each bounce the ball does not rise as high as it did on the previous bounce. Eventually the ball comes to a halt. It is friction with the ground each time the ball hits the ground that
[Home > Friction Intro.] What is Friction? Friction is the “evil” of all motion. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down. It appears as if nature has given us friction to stop us from moving anything. Friction is actually a force that appears whenever two things rub against each other. Although two objects might look smooth, microscopically, they’re very rough and jagged, as this picture shows: As they slide against each other, their contact is anything BUT smooth. They both kind of grind and drag against each other. This is where friction comes from. But friction is not all bad. In fact, it has a lot to do with life as we know it here on Earth. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to walk, sit in a chair, climb stairs, or use a mouse to surf the web. Everything would just keep slipping and falling all over the place. Click here to do an experiment with friction, as it
Anna, Friction is a force which causes the motion between two surfaces to be reduced. Friction happens because most surfaces are not perfectly smooth. Even a table top which may appear smooth has little bumps in it if you looked at it with a really good microscope. When two surfaces try to move past each other these little bumps collide and slow the motion of the surfaces down causing what we call friction. The rougher a surface is the more and bigger bumps it has and the more friction will affect it. Some examples of this are sliding a wood block down a ramp. If you slide a wooden block down a ramp it is slowed by friction. If you cover the block in sand paper (making it rougher) the block will slide slower because friction is slowing it down more. Friction also increases if you push the surfaces together more. So a full suitcase will have more friction opposing its motion if you try to slide it across the floor than an empty one. Other examples of friction are very numerous because f
