Experiment on friction

by Raymond Han 7O

1. Friction is a force that resists the motion or tendency of motion between two objects or surfaces as they rub against each other. Friction is found almost everywhere, the only place that does not experience friction being a vacuum. A rough surface such as carpet exerts more friction than a smooth one such as tiles. Also, there is more friction between two solid surfaces than between a solid object and a gas. Not only does friction stop objects from moving, it also causes objects to heat up or make a sound. There are three main types of friction: sliding friction, rolling friction and fluid friction. No matter what activity you are doing, i.e. driving, running and cycling, friction is a force that will always slow you down, making you work harder. Friction isnt always bad, however, as you need a certain amount of friction to get a grip in order to do something. 2. Aim: To find out if the roughness of surfaces will affect their friction. 3. I think the brick surface will have the most friction as brick is rough and a tiled surface would have the least friction because it is smooth and polished. 4. Equipment: 21 rubber bands (Circumference: 10 cm) (Width: 0.5cm) fabric pencil case (Weight: 500 grams) 30cm ruler surface surface cement surface surface (3-4 sheets)

1 one Tiled Brick Paved Carpet A4 Paper

5. Making the force measurer: 1. Join the 21 rubber bands as shown in the diagram.

2. Put the tip of the first rubber band onto the zero centimetre point on a 30cm ruler. Method: Drag the pencil case (the control) with the force measurer across tiles, bricks, cement, carpet and paper (variables). 2. Record the number of millimetres the first rubber band stretched by. 1.

Results:
Surface Tiles Bricks Paper Carpet Cement mm of force 8 29 17 52 31
Frict ion caused by sliding a pencil case across different surfaces 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Ti l es Br i cks Paper Car pet Cem ent Surface

mm of force

m m of f or ce

7. Conclusion: Through the experiment, I found out that different surfaces had different friction forces and the more rough surfaces are, the more friction they will have. I also found out that carpet had the most friction and tiles had the least. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was achieved. Although my hypothesis was not exactly correct, there were a few factors that affected friction. The tiles had low friction as the ones used were near the shower and they were wet when I used them to measure their friction force. Although I thought bricks had the most friction, the bricks I thought were going to be used were going to be rough ones, but the brick surface I used was paved and so friction was reduced. The paved cement surface I used was my car driveway and, as I was dragging

my pencil case upwards, friction was increased. 8. Sites used: http://www.fearofphysics.com/Friction/frintro.html Gives background information on friction. http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/dirtmeister/friction.html Gives information on the uses of friction. http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/friction.htm Different types of friction are named and described. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/friction Site used to define friction. Kerry Whalley, Peter Robertson and Greg Rickard, Science Focus 1, Pearson Education Australia: Melbourne, 2007 Read through Chapter 7 for background information on friction. http://www.sambal.co.uk/friction.html Site used to understand the goods and bads of friction. http://www.asme.org/Education/PreCollege/TeacherResources/Slow_Roller_Friction. cfm Ideas on what to do for the experiment are given.