Friction

Teachers
Notes
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Friction

It should only take about 10 minutes to read these notes. They

give some ideas for using the kit.

Additional information is given at the end for interest and

further research.

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Friction

Contents

Page
Contents of kit 4
Introduction 5
Things to investigate:
1. The frictional effects of different surfaces 6
1. using masses 7
2. using different weight of blocks 7
3. using forcemeters 8
4. at different heights 8
2. The frictional effects of water 9
3. The frictional effects of air 12
1. due to surface area 13
1. using spinners 15
2. shown using a vacuum 17
3. modelling lungs 19
Explanation 20
Reference for parachute website 22
Appendix 23
Sample results and practical tips

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Friction

Contents of Kit

10 wooden blocks
10 tracks
10 height adjusters for tracks

5 of 2ps
10 plastic beakers

10 forcemeters 0- 2.5N

vacuum pump and tube

2 plastic cylinders with same diameter and height plus stand

larger diameter plastic cylinder

template for spinners

NOT INCLUDED
Plasticine

Stopwatches

Cake cases

Scrap paper or newspaper

Penny and feather for vacuum tube

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Friction

Introduction
Friction:
is a force that tries to stop surfaces sliding;
acts against the force that is trying to make the surfaces
slide;
produces heat

NB Cars rolling down slopes is not a good example of friction.

The main source of friction here is on the axles unless the car
skids...

The effects of friction can be helpful or not. In everyday life

friction is useful when:-
we walk (it stops us slipping)
we rub hands (it produces heat).
it holds our clothes together!

It is less useful when:-

we cycle (it slows us down)
we brush our hair (it produces static)
machines need cooling (feel a bicycle pump after use)

The friction kit can be used to investigate

frictional effects of different surfaces
frictional effects of water
frictional effects of air

The investigations and equipment used in these notes are only suggestions
and can be easily adapted and/or extended.

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Friction

1. The frictional effects of different surfaces

These investigations need:-

wooden blocks,
brown plastic tracks with rollers,
plastic beakers,
2ps and
string
forcemeters 0-2.5N

The blocks have 4 different surfaces: felt

coarse sand paper
rubber
wood

String attaches block to beaker

2ps added
to beaker

block

The weight of the coins is used to provide a force to drag the

blocks along the track.
Frictional force opposes the movement and is equal to the force
needed to start the block moving.

Make sure the beaker hangs over the edge of a table and can run
freely!
(ten 2ps exert a force of about 0.65N).

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Friction

Things to do:

1. Plan a fair test to investigate whether the different

surfaces change the frictional force between the
block and the track.

2ps

Use different block sides

underneath

The force needed to make the block move should be bigger when
the rougher surfaces are in contact with the track.

2. Investigate what happens to the friction if the block

is made heavier.
weight added to block

2ps
block

The heavier block has more friction and takes more force to
move.

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Friction

3. Use forcemeters to measure the force needed to

make the block move.

Forcemeter used to pull block

You might notice that the force reading drops as the block begins
to move.

(This is because the force needed to overcome dynamic (moving)

friction is less than the force needed to overcome the original
static friction. The dynamic frictional force can be found if the
block is given a small push every time a weight is added.)

4. An alternative or additional method is to tilt the

plastic track and measure the force needed to
overcome friction at different heights.

Force to overcome friction

measured using either the
forcemeter or the beaker method

weight

More force is needed to make the block move up the slope. This
is because the blocks weight is not acting at right angles to the
slope and there is more resultant force to overcome.

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Friction

2. The frictional affects of water

These investigations need:

Plasticine (+ cotton)
plastic cylinders and their base
water
stopwatches
marker pens

2 plastic cylinders of same diameters and height (base separate)

larger plastic cylinder (integral base)

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Friction

Things to do:

Investigate whether shape affects friction.

Mark water level

Measure the time

to fall between 2
marks drawn on
the cylinders

Fill each cylinder to about 15 cm below the top and mark

the water level.
Mark a distance (60 cm or longer) on the outside to
measure between.
Take small (marble sized) balls of plasticine and time as
they fall between the two lines.

The two sets of two cylinders make it easy compare shapes of the
same mass dropped together.

A good way of retrieving balls of plasticine from the cylinder

bottom is to attach a long piece of thick cotton. This must be
long enough to hang over the top of the cylinder so that the ball
can be pulled back.

If you do not use cotton to retrieve the shapes, make several

pieces of plasticine of the same mass to start with, then more
measurements can be made without emptying the cylinders.
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Friction

Take a small piece of plasticine and time how long it takes to

fall a measured distance through the water.
Make the plasticine into different shapes and time how long
these take to fall.
The time for each shape to fall the same distance can be
directly compared.

Repeat measurements for a fair test are made either by

(i) reusing the same pieces of plasticine
or
(ii) making the same mass and shape three times to
start with.

Remember to always refill the cylinders to the original mark.

NB
Make sure the plasticine shapes are smaller than the diameter of
the cylinder. This can be a problem with the smaller cylinders.

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Friction

3. The frictional effects of air

Includes the effects of a vacuum and a way of modelling lungs.

These investigations need:

Paper cake cases or similar
Timers
Scrap paper
Scissors
Vacuum and tube
Rulers and pencils
balloons

Things to do:
1. Investigate surface area effects.
(i)
Cut 2 identical pieces from scrap paper or newspaper.
Keep one piece flat and scrunch the other.
Time how long each takes to fall the same distance.

Falls slowly Falls fast

The flat paper has a larger surface area for the air to push up
against. This slows it down. There is more frictional effect.
The scrunched up paper falls more quickly because it has a
smaller surface area. There is less frictional effect.
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Friction

(ii)
This idea can be extended by looking at the effects of surface
area using flattened paper cake cases. The paper cases can be
compared to parachute canopies.

Investigate the effects of surface area on the drop time using:

1. different numbers of holes and
2. different sizes of holes.

The higher the drop height the easier it is to time.

Holes cut in paper

Papercase canopy

central vent hole

View from top of parachute canopies

The holes were cut after folding the paper as if to make a

snowflake.

The cake cases need a central vent to give sensible results

otherwise the paper falls a long way sideways.

The surface area of the cake case is dependent on the number

and size of holes cut into it.

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Friction

Results should show that

more holes makes the case fall faster and
bigger holes make the case fall faster.

It is difficult to compare the differences in drop time for

material parachutes unless the drop height is over 4m. This is
possible if a stairwell is used but not in a classroom (see web
reference for more details).

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Friction

2. Investigate using spinners.

Spinners are easily made and can be used in the planning of fair
tests.

Spinners can:
be made with longer or shorter wings to vary surface area;
be made with different thicknesses of card to vary weight;
be dropped from different heights;
have their weight changed by adding paperclips.

Two simple spinner designs are:-

10cm 3cm

3cm

3cm

9cm x 12cm

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Friction

1cm
3cm
Fold
6cm

Fold
1cm


3cm x 9cm

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Friction

3. The effects of no air resistance

This can be seen using the vacuum pump and one of the narrower
tubes.

Tap - controls air in or out of tube.

Close before removing vacuum

pump

Hose attaches to vacuum pump

Attach the bung with attached tap and tubing to the tube.
Make sure the tap is open.
Attach the tubing to the vacuum pump.
Pump the air out of the tube until a vacuum of about 60cmHg is
reached. This can take about 10 minutes.
Close the tap and remove the hose from the pump.
Turn the tube over and watch the penny and feather fall.

When the tube is full of air a penny and piece of tinfoil will fall at
different rates. This is what everyone is used to.

When the air is pumped out of the tube, however, the penny and
tinfoil fall together.

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Friction
to vacuum pump

feather or tinfoil

and
penny

This experiment was done on the Moon using a hammer and

feather. The original thought experiment used a guinea and
feather.

After the tube has been inverted a few times there might be a
build up of static electricity from the friction. If the feather or
foil sticks to the sides rather than falling, the static can be
reduced by touching the inside of the tube with a long, bare, wire
or rinsing with water.

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Friction

4. An extension to this is to model the way the ribs and

diaphragm work together to inflate lungs.

The ribs and diaphragm make the lungs expand and deflate by
changing the air pressure.

When we breathe in, the chest area gets bigger, the pressure
falls and air is forced into the lungs.

When we breathe out the chest area gets smaller, pressure

increases and air is forced out of the lungs.

A balloon in the vacuum tube can be used to model this. As the

pressure drops the balloon inflates, as the pressure increases the
balloon deflates.

To vacuum pump

As the pressure drops

the balloon inflates

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Friction

Additional Background Information

Different kinds of movement produce different types of friction

between objects. Static (limiting) friction occurs between
stationary objects, dynamic (sliding) friction between objects as
they slide past each other.

Most surfaces are actually quite rough when seen under a

microscope. The roughness means that the surfaces have little
actual contact and snag on each other when they move. Perfectly
smooth surfaces would have no friction once moving they would
not stop.
Static surfaces weld
contacts together at the contact
points.
Surface 1 Moving surfaces snag
on them.
Both cases slow
Surface 2
movement down.

Magnified x-section of 2 surfaces in contact showing contact points

The surfaces also tend to attract at the molecular level. The few
places of actual contact develop chemical bonds. It is these
microwelds that need to be broken before the blocks can move.
If an object is moving, these bonds form and break. This takes
energy away from the system and the object slows. Microwelds
explain why the static friction is greater than dynamic friction.

Lubricants such as oil and water work by smoothing out the

rough surface effects.

lubricant effect

Surface 1 Lubricants such as

graphite or oil film
over the surfaces
Surface 2 preventing contact
and helping sliding

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Friction

Lubricants reduce friction. This results in less energy lost to

frictional heating and less wear damage to surfaces. Most
machines need lubricants to work efficiently.

If the apparent area of contact of the block is changed, eg made

smaller, the frictional force stays the same. The same force is
needed to make the block move.

F F

1. Block on its side 2. Block on its end

It takes the same force F to overcome friction whether the block is on its side or end.

This is because on a microscopic scale the fewer points of

contact for the block on its end are under increased pressure
from the blocks weight. This has the effect of squashing them
and making the actual total contact area the same as the original
block on its side.

Friction can be useful or not depending on what you are trying to

do. Friction is useful if you are cold rubbing your hands
together produces heat to warm you. It even holds the threads
of material together in clothes Friction between the soles of
shoes and the floor helps keep people upright. Walking on ice is
very difficult as friction is reduced!

Friction between tyres and the road enables cars and bicycles to
move. Their brakes work by applying friction. Bicycle brake
blocks squeeze against the wheel rim and the bike slows down.
Car brake shoes squeeze against the brake drum or disc causing

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Friction

the car to stop. The wheels and tyres both get hot. Moving parts
in car engines and other machines also get hot due to friction.
Heating effects due to both friction and combustion of fuels
make engine parts expand. Without lubrication the engine would
seize up. Cars generally use oil to lubricate reduce friction
and water to cool the engines.

Friction has an effect in fluids (gases and liquids) too. It is

known as drag. The force of drag depends on the objects shape,
material and speed plus the fluids viscosity. The viscosity results
from friction between molecules in the fluid. Drag slows down
fish swimming in water and a car moving through air. Friction
between the air and the moving car is called drag or air
resistance. It increases with speed and is the largest force
opposing a car travelling at high speed.

Further information on parachute design can be obtained from

the following website:

http://www.psprg.com/sptp.htm
Science Projects with Toy Parachutes by Dr Jean Potvin
This details the best designs for parachute canopies and shows
examples of the investigation in action.

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Friction

Appendix

The results obtained depend on the actual surfaces in contact so

even two similar surfaces can give different values. Felt and
wood surfaces will each vary slightly between each block and
track, for example.
One way of using this variation is to take averages of a set of
results.

This is a sample set of results:

material felt sandpaper rubber wood

No of Force/ No of Force/ No of Force/ No of Force/
2ps N 2ps N 2ps N 2ps N
1 19 1.00 21 1.30 16 1.00 12 0.30
2 17 0.75 19 1.20 13 0.95 12 0.50
3 18 0.90 20 1.25 14 0.95 12 0.50
4 17 0.75 21 1.25 13 0.70 9 0.25
5 16 0.65 22 1.30 12 0.55 12 0.50
average 16 0.81 21 1.26 14 0.83 11 0.51
highest 2 1 3 4
friction

Your results might be different as the materials are smoothed

with use - that is, the order given above might change as the
materials wear.

Practical Tips
Zero each forcemeter before use. Do this by adjusting the

white screw at the top.

Read the force from the top of the marker be consistent!

Read the force at eye level for a true reading.

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Friction

The blocks can be very jerky initially. They usually become

smoother as they travel down the track.

Read when the block is sliding steadily. It is much easier!

Make sure the beaker is hanging centrally and not off-

centre.

Make sure the block is in the centre of the track and does

not touch the sides.

Some blocks might be more worn than others depending on

their previous use. This will affect the force needed to

draw the blocks along.

The National Kit Club is co-ordinated by the Teacher Scientist Network, Norwich, and funded by DfES