SLIDING FRICTION

SHAYAN ALI
200101001
TAIMOOR AHMAD 200101029
M.FAIZAN SAJID 200101047
HUZAIFA BIN ZAHID 200101014
JAVERIA NASEEM 200101045
ANOOSHA NOOR 200101091
Theory:
Following three concepts are helpful, to understand
the fundamentals of sliding friction.
❖ Normal Force (𝑭𝑵 ):
The Normal force is a force perpendicular to the
surface on which the object is lying. It is what keeps
the object from falling through the surface. It acts
opposite to the weight of the body.
❖ Static Friction Force (𝑭𝒔 ):
Static Friction Force is the force of friction on an
object that keeps the object from moving. If you push
on a stationary block and it does not move, it is being
held by static friction which is equal and opposite to
your push.
❖ Kinetic Friction Force (𝑭𝑲 ):
Kinetic friction is defined as a force that acts between
moving surfaces. A body moving on a surface
experiences a force in the opposite direction of its
movement.
These are all “Contact Forces”. Contact forces are
experienced only during contact between two rigid
bodies. When a force F is applied to an object resting
on a surface, it will not move until force applied to it
is greater than maximum force due to static friction.
Thus, the coefficient of static friction (𝝁𝑺 ) is defined
as the ratio between the maximum static friction
force (𝑭𝒔) and normal force (𝑭𝑵).

𝝁𝑺 = 𝑭𝒔 = 𝑭𝒎𝒈
𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑭𝑵

Where Fmax is the maximum applied horizontal force

that does not cause slipping and FN equals mg since
there is no vertical motion. To keep the object
moving at a constant velocity, the applied force (F)
must equal the kinetic frictional force. The coefficient
of kinetic friction (𝝁𝑲) is defined as the ratio between
kinetic friction force (𝑭𝑲) and normal force (𝑭𝑵).

𝑭𝑲 𝑭
𝝁𝑲 = = 𝒎𝒈
𝑭𝑵
PROCEDURE 1 :
1. First take the measurement of the masses of all
friction trays and record them in the appropriate table.
Verify that the bar mass is 5g of 250g. If it is, we will
use 250g as the approximate mass of each bar as the
accuracy of the experiment is not better than 1%.
2. If there is no tension in string push the zero button on
force sensor
3. Place two masses in the cork bottomed Friction Tray.
The mass should be centered in the tray to prevent the
tray to turn sideways.
4. Place the friction tray on the lab table. Try to use same
section each time since variations in surface can change
the values.
5. Then go to the next page and click RECORD. After that
pull on the friction tray horizontally and continuously
pull it at constant velocity several seconds. After this
click on STOP and set the Smoothing up to 21.
6. The velocity time and force time graph can be now seen
on capstone.
Analysis for page 1 & 2
1. Open the page no 1, which is showing graphs for
Force(F) vs Time(t) & velocity(v) vs Time(t). firstly, scale
the specific graph by zero. Click on the smoothing tool
on the tool bar. Select the statistics icon and it shows
maximum value. Put this max value in table 2, in the
column of static friction according to relative mass on
page no 2.
2. Return to page no 1. Click on statistic tools to turn off
the max’s function and then find mean by highlighting
the region of graph having constant velocity. This value
should put in table 2 of page no 2 in the respective
column of kinetic friction according to the relative mass
in the table no 1 of page no 2 the difference of total
mass cork bottom tray and the mass of cork, felt and
plastic respectively will be added
3. Repeat the above steps according to the performance
of experiment for different material steps will be same
but the required values will be different.
PROCEDURE 2:
1. Enter the total mass of the cork and the 250 g mass in
the first column. Now repeat steps with 2 masses, 3
masses and 4 masses in the cork tray. It is advised to
use the same speed as before to ensure accuracy of the
results.
2. Now repeat steps 2-6 at low speed using the felt and
plastic bottomed Friction Trays with four 250g masses
in each. Then proceed with steps , but this time enter
the force data in the frictional forces page with rows
labeled Felt Static, Felt Kinetic, Plastic Static, and Plastic
Kinetic. Make sure you use the correct total mass.
Determine the coefficients using equation (6) and (7).
3. Using the two plastic bottomed trays, place two 250g
masses in each tray. Then stack one tray on top of the
other. Repeat steps 2-6. Determine the maximum static
force and the kinetic force at constant velocity. Enter
the results in the frictional forces page in rows labeled
Stack Static and Stack Kinetic.
4. Now hook one tray behind the other. Repeat steps 2-6
with two 250 g masses in each cart. Determine the
maximum static force and the kinetic force at constant
velocity.
5. Enter the results in the frictional forces table columns
labeled Train Static and Train Kinetic.

Analysis for page 3 to 5

1. The values derived from the previous two pages help to
draw graph on page 3. We can draw graphs for
between different things. it can be relation between
normal force and static friction. Use curve fit tool to
find the values and fill it in the table 5 of page no 5
accordingly and the table can be adjusted according to
the size of the readings, and can be dragged to another
location. The physical meaning of slope A, rise and run
of corresponding values of x & y axes.
2. Repeat the process of proportional two times for
finding the coefficient of static and kinetic friction.
3. Repeat the same process for finding the coefficient of
friction for cark.
4. Table of page no 4 is similar to the table 2 of page 2.
after performing smoothing, find maximum value from
the statistics tools of tool bar. Put the maximum value
into row of static friction. Return to the page no 1
cancel the effect of previous one and shade the
constant region of the graph of force time this shaded
region gives the mean value which devotes kinetic
friction force put the forces according to the material
used in the table 4 of page no 4.
Question 1:
What relationship exists between static frictional force and
normal force?

Answer:
We know that the formula of static frictional force is
𝐹𝑆 = 𝜇𝑆 𝑁
where Fs is static frictional force, µs is coefficient of static
friction and N is the normal force.
From the above formula we can see that Fs and N are directly
proportional to each other.
So, as the normal force increases, the static friction acting on
the object also increases.

Question 2:
Will the normal force acting on the friction tray affect the
coefficient of static or kinetic friction?

Answer:
According to the formula
𝐹𝑆
𝜇𝑆 =
𝑁
And,
𝐹𝐾
𝜇𝐾 =
𝑁

We can see that coefficients of static and kinetic frictions are

the ratios of static frictional force and kinetic frictional force
with normal force respectively.
When normal force increases, the static and kinetic frictional
forces also increase but coefficient of friction stay the same,
because it’s a ratio between those two quantities.
Hence, increasing or decreasing normal force does not affect
coefficient of static or kinetic friction.

Question 3:
Rank the trays from highest coefficient of friction to the
lowest. What is physically different between these surfaces?
Explain.

Answer:

The ranking is as follows:

Static: Cork (0.436) > Felt (0.406) > Plastic (0.404)
Kinetic: Cork (0.386) > Felt (0.349) > Plastic (0.348)

The difference between the surface of material with high

coefficient of friction and the surface of material with low
coefficients of friction is their smoothness. Cork is less smooth
as compared to plastic or felt. Since cork is made of wood, it is
relatively less smooth and hence experiences more friction than
plastic and felt that are smoother and face less friction.

Question 4:
What pattern do you notice between the values of
coefficients of static and kinetic friction?

Answer:

The observations recorded in the Table II of capstone file show

that as the coefficient of static friction decreases, the
coefficient of kinetic friction also decreases. Hence, there is a
directly proportional relation between the coefficients of static
and kinetic friction.
As,
 𝐹𝑆 𝐹𝑆
𝜇𝑆 = => 𝑁 = (i)
𝑁 𝜇𝑆
Also,

𝐹𝐾 𝐹𝐾
𝜇𝐾 = => 𝑁 = (ii)
𝑁 𝜇𝐾

From equation (i) and (ii):

𝐹𝑆 𝐹𝐾
=
𝜇𝑆 𝜇𝐾
𝐹𝑆 𝜇𝐾 = 𝐹𝐾 𝜇𝑆
This shows mathematically that µs and µk are directly
proportional.

Question 5:
Does force of friction depend upon surface area of contact?
Explain how you know.

Answer:
No, force of friction does not depend upon surface area of
contact.
Explanation:
The formula of force of friction is:

𝐹 = 𝜇𝑁

From this formula we can see that frictional force depends

upon normal force and coefficient of friction. It is independent
of surface area of contact or speed of motion.
For example, if you have two blocks of the same weight but one
is smaller, and we slide them on a surface, both of them will
experience same friction as same normal force is acting on
them.
So, we know that frictional force is independent of surface area
of contact.