In the last experiment, relation between mass of an object or the net force with

acceleration was defined. Another force acting on a system is to be discussed in this

experiment. When two objects interact by touching or contacting each other,
interaction is said to be subjected to contact forces. Among those contact forces, we
have normal force and frictional force.

Normal forces are forces acting perpendicularly towards the object. It is due to
molecules of the surface is resisting the molecules of the object squeezed on it.
Principal concern in this experiment is the frictional force. The use of oil in a cart
engine, the use of right lubrication in skating as well as in basketball, the screeching
sound of a sudden stopping car are all occurrences which is exploited by friction in
the reality. Meanwhile, frictional force is component acting on them. It acts parallel
to the interface or the surface of contact. Furthermore, this force acts to oppose any
relative motion between surfaces. Thus, it is a force which resists the relative
motion of one surface in contact with another. This force is not only exerted by one
object but between the contacting surfaces. One good example of this is the air
drag – the frictional force exerted by the air on body moving through it. Frictional
force is occurring in the same way as the normal force. When an object is laid on a
surface, molecules of the object will form very little bonds with the molecules of the
surface.

When friction exists but there is no present relative motion on the surface
of contact (e.g., the book isn't sliding across the table), this is static
frictional force. On the other hand, when an object is has motion,
particularly constant velocity, frictional force acting on it is kinetic
frictional force. Usually, the kinetic frictional force is less than the
maximum value of the static frictional force. The static frictional
force is given by fs ≤ µsN and the kinetic frictional force is given by f
k= µkN, where µs is the coefficient of static friction, µk is the
coefficient of kinetic friction and N is the normal force.

First part of the experiment deals with the determination of coefficient of friction of
motion of a moving object. Tension force pulling the wooden block is associated by
mass carried by pan and the gravity. It is gradually increased until object moves
with constant velocity. At those times that the object is not yet moving, static
frictional force is present. It is not constant. We added some load but still, it is not
yet moving. By that, static frictional force is equal to the force to the tension force
applied thus, capable of contradicting the force. The static frictional force will
continually increase as load is added until it reaches the maximum force that the
static frictional force can exert. It is also known as (fs)max. When a frictional force is
at its maximum, the body in question will either be moving or will be on the verge of
moving. At this point, when the object starts to move with constant velocity, the
frictional force will be present is now kinetic frictional force, f k. It is easier to move
an object in motion rather than starting with stationary object. It is because fs > fk
,usually. In connect with this, we have coefficient of friction is represented by
symbol µ which is a dimensionless scalar value. The coefficient of friction (static or
kinetic) is a measure of how difficult it is to slide a material of one kind over
another; the coefficient of friction applies to a pair of materials and not simply to
one object by itself. The coefficient of kinetic friction is usually less than compared to static
frictional force. It is the reason why fs > fk. On static frictional forces, its coefficient
starts at zero, increasing depending on the force applied until it reaches it
maximum value. Thus it is correct to interpret that the static frictional force is
given by fs ≤ µsN and the kinetic frictional force is given by f k = µkN. In the
experiment, the kinetic coefficients (since friction is measured when object starts to
move constantly) we had calculated are: _____________________________________. This
coefficient is extremely independent with the weight of the object and the normal force. It is
dependent with two contacting materials because of their different attraction and
repulsion with each other. By increasing the surface area starting on the third trial,
we could get greater frictional force. Greater surface of contact means greater
number of molecules to form bonds. Considering this example, It is more effortless
to move a ball than a box, it is due to ball has only one point in contact with the
surface. It is also the reason why we are using wheels to minimize the effect of
friction. Note that we use a horizontal track. Thus, normal force is just equal to the
force exerted by the weight of the object, N=W. Moreover, the frictional force
present is proportional to the normal force. This equation is given to be f = µN. So,
as we make the wooden block heavier, the greater frictional force is exerted with its
kinetic coefficient remained constant.

<<Sources of error.>>

Angle of repose was determined on the second part. For certain applications it is
more useful to define static friction in terms of this maximum angle before which
one of the items will begin sliding. It is defined as: where µ is the static
coefficient of friction between the objects. Consequently, at horizontal objects static
friction coefficient is just zero assuming that no external force such as tension is
applied. In the experiment _________________________. This phenomenon occurs
because the component of gravitational force along the wooden platform just
overcomes the frictional force. Remember that at greater angle, gravitational force
is more influential which is discussed on experiment 2. It is easier and more
convenient to determine the static coefficient friction in laboratories using this
method. By analyzing the result, the materials with higher angle of repose are the
ones who have greater frictional force and frictional coefficient.

Sources of error

At the last part of the experiment, maximum force which causes an object into
uniform motion was obtained. By variation of weights
When a body slides or at rest, friction is both present. If the surface is frictionless,
friction is zero. Actually, there is no thing such as frictionless, but sometimes, it is
assumed if effect of the friction is negligible. When an object have a velocity, there
is kinetic friction, represented by symbol , fk where k means kinetic. On the other
hand, if it is at rest, there is a static friction, represented by symbol, fs where s
means static. These two friction forces are proportional to normal force (for fs it is
sometimes just an approximate). Thus, a constant coefficient is needed to
determine frictional force. Coefficient is represented by u. First part of the
experiment deals with the determination of coefficient of friction of motion of a
moving object. Tension force pulling the wooden block is associated by mass carried
by pan and the gravity. It is gradually increased until object moves with constant
velocity. When the object is not yet moving, coefficient of friction is us. When it
starts to move,