1.1 Background Research
Friction plays a very important part of our life. Friction is a resistance force that slows down or prevents motion, it is necessary for many applications where you might want to hold items or do things and prevent slipping or sliding. Friction is used in car brakes, when we walk or climb a hill, making a fire, skiing down a hill, and more. In this study, we are going to be using 6 different materials, a small wooden block, and a couple of weights. These materials and indicators are easy to use, low-cost, and have already proven to be accurate in studies.
We are focusing on friction between two solid surfaces, also known as dry friction. Dry friction is subdivided into static friction, also know as ‘stiction’. Dry friction arises when a combination of inter surface adhesion, contributed to by the roughness of the two surfaces.
The 6 different types of surfaces we are focusing our experiment on are,
sand paper, plastic covering, wood veneer, craft foam, cloth and corrugated plastic board. These 6 surfaces are everyday objects that can be easily found in most households. Throughout the different surfaces, there are different amounts of roughness, from sand paper to corrugated plastic, which we think will be the smoothest surface out of the six. Not only are there these 6 surfaces, there are many others out there in the world. Other surfaces include, rubber, asphalt, glass, leather etc. These surfaces all have varying friction properties.
The coefficient of friction is a quantity well used in the scientific world of engineering. Conceptually defined as the ratio of two forces acting, respectively, a perpendicular and parallel to an interface between two bodies under relative motion or impending relative motion, this dimensionless quantity turns out to be convenient for depicting the relative ease with which materials slide over one another under particular circumstances(Blau, Peter. (2001). The Significance and Use of the Friction Coefficient. Tribology International. 34. 585-591. 10.1016/S0301-679X(01)00050-0. )
With this research, We have decided on our hypothesis for the experiment, in which the rougher the surface, the more downwards force of the weight is needed to make the object of a certain weight slide across the surface.
1.2 Research Questions
How to determine the coefficient of friction
What is a coefficient
1.3 Hypothesis
The rougher the surface, the greater the friction. E.g. sandpaper has the highest coefficient of friction
1.3.1 Independent Variables
The independent variable is the 6 different surfaces tested.(sand paper, plastic, wood plank, styrofoam, cloth and corrugated plastic board)
1.3.2 Dependent Variables
The coefficient of friction
1.3.3 Constants
The surface of the object used to carry out the experiment
The pulley used for the rope and weights
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