Abstract :

The experiment was conducted to study friction acting on object subjected to load and motion. A
total of three sets of experiments were conducted. The variables such as weight, area and
material was constantly changed at intervals to obtained a better see through of the objectives.
The first set of experiment was aimed at pulling the wooden block using a spring balance hooked
to the wooden block. The wooden block was pulled on two different surface material and area.
The static friction force and coefficient of friction due to the moving block is to be noted.
The second set of experiment was to conducted similar to that of first experiment. In this second
experiment, The wooden block was subjected to a gradual increase in weight by the addition of
external load. A spring balance was used to obtain the kinetic friction force and static friction
force. The former was calculated when the block was moving at a constant velocity and the latter
was measured when the block was about to move.
The third set of experiment was conducted with a rods which act as rollers. This rods were used
to measure the rolling and sliding friction forces. The rods were placed horizontal on the base of
the experiment and the wooden block was pulled by placing it on the rod. Then the rods were
placed in the opposite position to the earlier and the wooden block was pulled on the rod. A
spring balance was used and the coefficient of friction was calculated.

Introduction :
Static Friction Force is the force that acts on the surface of an object or more without inducing
any movement relative to each other. Normally, the static friction force is always higher than the
kinetic friction force. A much more effort need to be put in order to overcome the relatively high
static friction force.

Where, Fs is static friction;

s is the coefficient of static friction and

Fn is the normal force.

Kinetic Friction Force is the force measured relative to the movement of the object. The friction
between two surface that sliding over each other. The minimal force that resists the movement of
the object is the friction force.

Where,

k is the coefficient of kinetic friction,

Fn is the normal force.
As of this experiment, factors such as area, weight and material were put to a test. The
results obtained made it clear that the material of the surface in contact for a particular motion
plays an important role in determining the static friction
force. In this experiment, wooden block with a rubber
side yields a larger static friction than that of wooden
side. Consequently, the coefficient of friction obtained
was also relatively high.
Besides that, in the second experiment, the factor
that was tested was the weight. Weight did affect the
final outcome of the experiment. Weight was increased
gradually at interval. As the weight was increased, the
static friction and kinetic friction increased as the
resistance to motion was relatively high.
Furthermore, friction can be classified into two types, sliding friction and rolling friction.
Sliding friction when the object moves is in sliding manner with respect to the base. And the
rolling friction occurs when the object moves in rolling manner with respect to the base.

Objectives :
1) To determine the static and sliding (kinetic) friction forces (Fs and Fk) as function of:
(a) Area, (b) Weight and (c) Material, and then to compare the friction forces (Fs and Fk)
for different areas, weights and materials.
2) To compare rolling and kinetic (sliding) fricition forces (FR and FK) as a function of
weight.
3) To determine the friction coefficient in rolling case.

Apparatus :

A set of seven weights, 0.1kg to 1kg with hook

A set of six stand rods, L=100mm (0.1m), D=12mm(0.012m)

One spring balance (dynamometer) 10N

One pair of wooden blocks with different dimensions and weight for friction experiment

Procedure :

Set 1 Static and sliding forces as a function of the area, the weight and the material
(Fig 1)
1. The small block was placed with the plastic (rubber) side down in the experiment and the
static and sliding friction forces Fs and Fk was measured respectively.
2. The wide wooden side of the wooden block was placed on the base surface and then the
experiment was repeated for the measurements of Fs and Fk with the narrow wooden
side down.
3. The experiment for friction was repeated for the measurements with the large block.
4. The result of Fs and Fk was plotted as a function of area, weight and material.
5. The corresponding s and k was determined and the results as a function of area,
weight and material was plotted.

Set 2 Static and sliding forces as a function of the force of gravity (Fig 2)
1. The large block was placed with the rubber side down on the experiment surface and the
static and sliding friction force was measured.
2. The weight of the block was increased by adding extra weights of 0.1kg, 0.2kg, 0.5kg and
0.8kg in turn. The respective measurement was recorded.

3. The steps was repeated on the wooden side on the block and the measurements were
recorded as well. The result of Fs, Fk, s, and k was plotted as a function of the force
gravity; weigth (W).

Set 3 Rolling and sliding friction as a function of the force of gravity (Fig 3)
1. The stand rods were placed horizontal next to each other and the large block was placed
rubber side down on the stand rod.
2. Horizontal pulling force which maintains a uniform motion on the rolling rods was
measured as the rolling friction force Fr.
3. The weight of the block was increased by adding extra weights of 0.1kg, 0.2kg, 0.5kg and
1.0kg in turn. The respective measurement was recorded.
4. Wooden block was aligned parallel to the rod axis and the sliding force Fk was measured.
5. Graph of sliding friction force and rolling friction force was drawn as a function of the
force gravity.

Results :
SET 1
Weight(N)
3.24
3.24
1.86
1.86
3.24
1.86

Material

SurfaceArea
(m2)

FS (N)

Big Wood /
Surface 1
Big Wood/
Surface 2
Small Wood /
Surface 1
Small Wood /
Surface 2
Big Plastic
Surface
Small Plastic
Surface

0.7021

1.2

0.7021

FK (N)

0.370

0.772

0.114

1.1

0.339

0.425

0.131

0.3422

0.6

0.323

0.19

0.102

0.6962

0.95

0.512

0.31

0.167

0.7021

2.6

0.802

2.3

0.248

0.6962

1.45

0.779

1.3

0.419

SET 2
RUBBER SURFACE
Original
Additional Fk, (N)
weight (N) weight (kg)
3.43
0.10
3.40

FS (N)

Nf,(N)

4.10

4.20

0.97

0.81

3.43

0.20

4.50

5.00

5.12

0.96

0.87

3.43

0.50

6.50

8.00

8.13

0.98

0.80

3.43

0.80

9.00

9.1

11.08

0.82

0.81

WOODEN SURFACE
Original
Additional
weight (N) weight (kg)
1.86
0.10

Fk, (N)

FS (N)

Nf,(N)

1.50

1.80

4.20

0.43

0.36

1.86

0.20

2.20

2.40

5.12

0.46

0.42

1.86

0.50

3.20

4.00

8.13

0.49

0.39

1.86

0.80

5.00

5.50

11.08

0.54

0.36

SET 3
SLIDING
Origina Additiona
l
l weight
weight (kg)
(N)
3.43
0.00

FK
(Rolling)
(N)

FK
(Sliding)
(N)

Nf,(N)

(Sliding)

(Rolling)

0.08

2.80

3.22

0.870

0.025

3.43

0.10

0.18

7.70

4.20

0.880

0.043

3.43

0.20

0.20

4.00

5.12

0.771

0.039

3.43

0.50

0.54

6.80

8.13

0.837

0.066

3.43

0.80

0.60

7.40

11.08

0.568

0.054

FK
(Rolling)
(N)

FK
(Sliding)
(N)

Nf,(N)

(Sliding)

(Rolling)

0.08

2.80

3.22

0.870

0.025

ROLLING
Origina Additiona
l
l weight
weight (kg)
(N)
3.43
0.00
3.43

0.10

0.18

7.70

4.20

0.880

0.043

3.43

0.20

0.20

4.00

5.12

0.771

0.039

3.43

0.50

0.54

6.80

8.13

0.837

0.066

3.43

0.80

0.60

7.40

11.08

0.568

0.054

Discussion
The static friction force which is the reading on the spring balance was measured and
recorded when the block was about to move. The static friction force obtain is the resistivity
force of the block from moving due to inertia. Meanwhile, the kinetic friction force is recorded
when the block is moving at a uniform velocity. By this, the amount of force, F exert on the
block to engage in a movement can be found. For set 3, rolling friction force is smaller than
sliding friction force. This is because when the rods are perpendicular to movement of wooden
block, the surface contact is smaller, therefore the friction is smaller.

Based on the results obtained, its clear that the kinetic friction force (Fk) is always smaller
than static friction force (Fs). This is because a greater force is required to move a stationary
object compare to a moving object. This is knows as Inertia which is the Newtons 1st Law Of
Motion. The law states that :
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same
speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Inertia is the ability of any object with mass to resist the motion when an external force is applied
on the body.
As a precaution, all force applied to the block via the spring balance to calculate the
friction on the block was applied perpendicularly at 90 degrees to avoid the force being separated
into component forces. This would result in a non-precise reading on the spring balance. The
spring balance was calibrated beforehand to avoid zero error when taking reading during the
experiment. Besides that, to avoid parallax error, the eye position was ensured to be maintained
at 90 degrees to the tool while taking the reading. Lastly, multiple reading is taken where the
average was calculated to the maximize accuracy of the reading.
Discussion
The objective of the experiment is accepted. This is because based on the experiment it was
found that the area, weight and material affects the static friction and kinetic friction force. The
rubber material and weighted block increases the friction needed for the block to move. Besides
that, the surface area of the block has a minimal effect on the friction.
By comparing the rolling and sliding friction, the rolling friction is much lower than the sliding
friction. We can conclude that rolling motion exerts much low friction compared to sliding
motion. It can be said that rolling is method to reduce friction.