Forces and Motion Phet Simulation

Types of Friction and Free Body Diagrams

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/cheerpj/motion-series/latest/motion-series.html?simulation=forces-and-motion

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Forces and Motion - Friction and Free Body Diagrams

Key Vocabulary Words:

• Newton’s second law: A law of motion that relates the net/total force applied to an object with the object’s mass and acceleration

• Acceleration: The rate at which an object changes velocity. Acceleration = (Change in Velocity)/Time

• Static Friction: Type of friction that keeps objects at rest. Example: When a person is trying to move a stationary object, static friction
keeps it in place. Static friction opposes the direction of motion.
• Kinetic Friction: Frictional force that acts between two moving surfaces.

• Normal Force: the force that surfaces exert to prevent solid objects from passing through each other. Normal force is a contact force -
when two surfaces are in contact (e.g. a box and a table) they exert a normal force on each other, perpendicular to the contacting surfaces

Instructions:
• Follow the steps below to complete the lab. Fill out the data tables and answer the guide questions as well as the
choice question at the end.

Part 1: The types of frictional forces

Step 1: Click on the link to the lab simulation in the assignment. The link is reproduced here for ease of access
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/cheerpj/motion-series/latest/motion-series.html?simulation=forces-and-motion

Step 2: You should appear at the screen shown below

Step 3: Pull the Applied Force Slider bar over so it reads approximately 300N.

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Guiding Question 1: What happens to the force of friction as the applied force increases?

As applied force increases frictional forces increase at a proportional rate until reaching a maximum value.

Guiding Question 2: Which type of friction is represented in the situation in Question 1? Explain how you know. Look at
the vocabulary words if you get stuck.

Static friction is the type of friction that is acting on the box as it is pushed across the earth’s surface. The frictional force
resists the applied force in attempt to keep it in place.

Step 4: Slide the Applied Force Slider until the Box starts to move. Make sure to have the “Sum of Forces” box checked in
the menu bar on the right.

Guiding Question 3: What is the value of the applied force when the box starts to move? What is the value of the
frictional force at this moment?

Value of applied force at threshold: 500 N

Guiding Question 4: How does the value of the frictional force before the box starts moving compare to the frictional
force after the box starts moving? Which one is static friction? Which one is kinetic friction?

While the box is not moving static friction is acting on the box in an attempt to keep it in place. These static forces are
equal to mantain a constant velocity, maintaing a balenced force. As the box is pushed and more applied force is added,
outweighing the friction force it becomes kinetic friction and the forces become unbalences.

Guiding Question 5: Making sure “Sum of Forces was checked above. Why is the sum of forces/net force less than the
applied force? Think about the direction of the forces in your answer.

The sum of the direction of magnitude of the resultant vector is equal to the scalar sum of the magnitude of forces.
When there are several forces acting on the object in the same direction the magnitude of the resultant is equal to the
scaler sum of the resultant. One measuring the complete application of force and the other measuring only the force
applied on the object.
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Step 5: Change the surface to “ice”. See image below

Step 6: Slide the Applied Force Slider until the Box starts to move.

Guiding Question 6: Why does the box start to move instantly? Use the key vocabulary word static friction.

Ice is a surface that lacks static friction, therefore with no opposing force the box glides freely until stopped as stated in
Newton’s First Law of Motion.

Calculating Friction

The maximum static friction and maximum kinetic friction can be calculated with the
equation below. They depend on the magnitude of the Normal Force

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Step 7: Change the surface back to “wood”. Record the mass, coefficient of kinetic friction, and coefficient of static
friction in the table below - of the wood “small crate”. This is displayed below the “Applied Force” Bar in the simulation.

Table 1
Object mass Coefficient of Coefficient of Normal Force Maximum Maximum
[kg] Static Friction Kinetic [N] Force of Static Force of
Friction Friction Kinetic
[N] Friction
[N]

Small Crate 100kg 0.5 0.3 981N 490.5N 294.3N

File Cabinet 50kg 0.5 0.2 490.5N 245.25N 98.1N

Refrigerator 200kg 0.5 0.2 1962N 981N 392.4N

Step 8: Repeat step 7 above for the “File Cabinet” and the “Refrigerator”.

Guiding Question 7: Complete table 1 above by calculating the Normal Force, Maximum Force of Static Friction, and the
maximum force of kinetic friction. Use the equations at the end of page 3 and the equation in the table for Normal Force.
Recall: g = 10m/s^2.

done

Thinking - Question 8: How does the value you calculated for “maximum force of static friction” for the “small crate”
compare to your answer for question 3? Why is that the case?

The value calculated for maximum force of static friction was roughly 490.5N compared to my response for question 3
which was 500N for appleid force at threshold and 250N for static friction at threshold. They shared a similar response
for applied force and maximum force of static friction, the threshold is the moment the box begins movement. The lower
the amount of static friction applied, the lower the number in response.

Thinking - Question 9: What do you notice about the relationship between static and kinetic friction? Which one has a
larger maximum? Why do you think that would be the case?

Static friction is greater than kinetic friction because there are more forces acting on the object to keep it stationary
compared to the amount of forces working to resist an object already in motion. Static force has a greater maximum
because of it’s efforts on a single object while kinetic friction placed it’s efforts between two objects. The force of static
friction keeps the stationary object at rest, once that is overcome, the force of kinetic friction works to slow down the
object.
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