ECLSS1002 Key Concepts In Science 25th November 2009

“The Role of Friction in Everyday Life”

Friction is a force that resists motion on an object in the opposite direction to which it is
moving. Friction acts on all objects that move; therefore it plays a vital role in our everyday
life. It is probably easy for us to give friction a negative image because we’re always working
against it, but without it we wouldn’t be able to do even the simplest of every day actions or
tasks such as driving, running or even walking as we need friction in order to move or stop.

Friction dissipates energy (when contacting surfaces move relative to each other friction is
the force responsible for converting kinetic/dynamic energy into thermal/heat energy.)
Friction occurs in two main ways, these are:
• Friction between two solid surfaces when they slide past each other.
• Resistance (also known as “drag”) from either air or liquid.

It was once thought that kinetic friction was caused by the roughness on each surface of an
object and the belief was that the rougher the surface the more friction, however it is now
understood that kinetic friction is now caused by chemical bonding between surfaces. In
other words rather than thinking about sand on sandpaper, chemical bonding between
surfaces suggests cellotape being dragged along a surface is a better and more appropriate
illustration of what friction actually is. This is because scientists have discovered (by
investigating modern sciences of surfaces/abrasion/lubrication) that friction is caused by
stickiness and is a “stick and slip” process, rather than being dependant on the roughness of
a surface. The surface roughness in fact is only responsible for the different surfaces
bouncing up and down as they move – so any energy that is lost when the surfaces push
apart is regained as the surfaces fall together again.

Static friction is the friction between two objects that are not moving relative to each other.
For example if a car was stationary upon a hill or a sloped surface, static friction is
responsible for preventing the wheel from slipping as it rolls down the surface on the ground.
This is because even though the wheel is in motion, the patch of tire that is in contact with
the ground is stationary relative to the ground, this means the force is static not kinetic.
Another example of static friction would be if a car was again static and one person tried to
push it. The force that one person is exerting may not be enough to over come the static
friction that’s keeping the car in place, however if another person was to join in and make the
force trying to move the car stronger then it may exert a large enough forcer to get the car
rolling.

This is a good example of Newton’s first law of motion (inertia) – balanced forces mean that
there is no chance in velocity; If the forces acting on an object are all balanced then the
object will stay still, or if an object is already moving then it will carry on at the same velocity.
If an object has a constant velocity of zero then the object will remain at rest.

Static friction aims to prevent an object from beginning to move; In other words static friction
only acts to oppose a force threatening to move an object, it can not be a greater force than it
because other wise the object would begin to move in the opposite direction.

Dynamic friction occurs when two objects moving relative to each other rub together. An
example of this is if a book was to be put flat upon a desk and then pushed, or if a sled was
to be pushed on the ground. Either of these two objects would move a distance and the
speed it travelled would decrease as the amount of friction increased (so the object would
slow down) until there was enough friction to actually stop the object moving any further.
 ECLSS1002 Key Concepts In Science 25th November 2009

Dynamic friction is constant so it will act so long as an object is in motion in order to stop it
from moving.

The difference between dynamic and static friction is simply:

In static friction the two objects are not moving relative to each other (when the object is
stationary). In dynamic friction the two objects are moving relative to each other (when the
object is moving).

Static friction force (fs) is the force that cancels out any applied force until and including when
it reaches its maximum (fsmax). This is the force that is responsible for grinding moving objects
to a halt and keeping them stationary.

Normal reaction force (FN) means any force coming to or from a surface at a right angle (90°).
If an object is on a surface that is level, the normal force is always equal and opposite to the
weight of the object. If an object is on a surface that is not level (inclined) then the angle
which of the incline and the angle of the normal reaction force away from the weight of the
object is also the same size.

In conclusion to my essay and the subject of it, I’d say the role of friction on every day life
was a vital role in our day-to-day activities because without it we’d struggle to do even the
simplest of tasks. I don’t think that people consciously think about friction or are even aware
of how much we need it accomplish the most simple of tasks. Generally when people think
about friction the first thing that comes to mind is an example of dynamic friction rather than
static friction as they mightn’t be aware that it is this static friction which is responsible for
keeping things in place or stationary, even though it is probably this static friction that is the
more compulsory/necessary type of friction of the two.

Word count: 972

 ECLSS1002 Key Concepts In Science 25th November 2009

Bibliography

Books

CGP (2003). GCSE Science - Complete Revision & Practice. Newcastle upon Tyne:
Coordination Group Publications Ltd. 247.

Websites

Beaty, Bill. (2005). Corrected: Friction is not caused by surface roughness. Available:
http://amasci.com/miscon/miscon4.html#fric. Last accessed 13 November 2009.

Benson, Tom. (2009). Newton's Laws of Motion. Available:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/newton.html. Last accessed 13 November
2009.

Chamberlain, Cathleen. (1998). What is the Normal Force. Available:

http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/physics/phys01/friction/normal.htm. Last accessed
13 November 2009.