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Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 1 of 8

Sliding Friction

EQUIPMENT

INCLUDED:
1 Discover Friction Accessory ME-8574
1 Force Sensor PS-2104
1 Motion Sensor PS-2103A
4 500g Cart Masses ME-6757
1 Physics String SE-8050
NOT INCLUDED, BUT REQUIRED:
1 850 Universal Interface UI-5000
1 PASCO Capstone Software UI-5400

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this experiment is to find the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of
kinetic friction for different surfaces. As the Force Sensor pulls a Friction Tray from rest to a
constant velocity, it can measure both the static friction and the kinetic friction. A plot of each
of these forces versus their respective normal forces yields both coefficients. We also examine
the dependence of friction on the surface area of contact and the affect of speed on the kinetic
friction.

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 2 of 8

THEORY

When a force (F) is applied to an object resting on a surface, it will not move until the force
applied to it is greater than the maximum force due to static friction. The coefficient of static
friction (s) is defined to be the ratio between the maximum static frictional force (Fs) and the
normal force (FN):
s = Fs/FN = Fmax/mg

where Fmax is the maximum applied horizontal force that does not cause slipping and FN equals
mg since there is no vertical motion.
To keep the object moving at a constant velocity, the applied force (F) must equal the kinetic
frictional force. The coefficient of kinetic friction (k) is defined to be the ratio between the
kinetic frictional force (Fk) and the normal force (FN):

k = Fs/FN = F/mg

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 3 of 8

SET-UP

1. Connect the Force Sensor and the Motion Sensor to PASPORT inputs on the 850 Universal
Interface.

2. Cut about 50 cm of Physics String. Tie the string in a loop. Thread one end of the loop
through the hole in the holding bracket on the front of the Friction Tray. Pass the rest of the
loop back through this loop (see movie by clicking green triangle) (see Friction Knot movie
in Movie Folder) and tighten it on the holding bracket so it is centered. This prevents the
tray from rotating sideways as it moves. Repeat for the cork bottomed, felt bottomed and
one of the plastic bottomed trays.

3. Loop the other end of the string over the hook on the Force sensor.

4. Set the switch on the Motion Sensor to the Cart, short range setting. Set the angle to zero
degrees so the Sensor is not tipped up or down.

5. Place the Friction Tray 15 cm in front of the Motion Sensor. Try to use the same section of
the table each time since variations in the surface can affect the results.

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 4 of 8

PROCEDURE 1 (Sensors set to 50 Hz)

1. Measure the mass of each of the Friction Trays and verify that each bar mass is within 5 g
of 500 g. Record the values for the Friction Trays on the Data 2 page. We will take the bar
masses to be exactly 500 g since the precision of this experiment is worse than 1%.

2. With no tension on the string, press the "zero" button on the force sensor.

3. Place one mass in the cork bottomed Friction Tray. Center the mass in the tray to prevent
the tray from trying to turn sideways.

4. Place the Friction Tray on the lab table. Try to use the same section of the table each time
since variations in the surface can affect the results.

5. Click RECORD. With the force sensor tied to the tray, slowly increase the pull on the
Friction Tray horizontally until it begins to move, and then continue pulling it across the
lab station at a constant (slow) velocity. Look at the Velocity vs. Time plot above to verify
the velocity is roughly constant. It is difficult to keep it exactly constant, but you should be
able to identify regions where it is nearly constant. It is probably better to watch the
Friction Tray and try to keep its motion uniform. There is a tendency to overcorrect and
oscillate up and down if you try to watch the Velocity vs. Time plot. Continue pulling at a
constant velocity for several seconds. Click STOP to stop data collection. (This will record
the speed and force as a function of time and graph both.) Set Smoothing to 20 and read the
approximate speed from the Velocity vs. Time graph and enter it in the table on the Data 2
page.

6. Your Force vs. Time graph on the Data 1 page should look similar to that shown below. If
you don’t have a peak followed by a lower horizontal section, you may not be keeping the
cart moving at a constant speed or there may be contaminates on the track where the cart
moves. Try cleaning the table top, moving to a different section of the table, or just practice
moving the cart at a constant speed. Click the Delete Last Run button at the bottom right of
the screen to delete unwanted runs.

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 5 of 8

ANALYSIS:

1. Open the Data 1 page (This displays the force vs. time graph.) and click on the triangle
in the Statistics tool box ( on bar at top of page) and make sure Max is turned on.
Click on the Statistics tool. The value of the maximum force should appear in the upper
left corner. Record this value in the static column of the Cork bottom tray table (total
mass, N, static, kinetic, fast) on the Data 2 page. Click the Statistics tool again to turn it
off.
2. Click on the Selection tool ( ) and drag and reshape the highlighted box so that the
region where the force is roughly constant (where velocity was constant-look at the
Velocity vs. Time graph on Procedure 1 page) is in the box. Click on the triangle in the
Statistics tool box and turn Mean on. Click on the Statistics tool. The mean value force,
while the tray moves at constant speed, should appear in the middle left of the
highlighted box. Record this value in the kinetic column of the table on the Data 2
page. Click Statistics to turn the Statistics tool off. Click the Delete Active Element
button ( ) to turn off the Selection tool.
3. Enter the total mass of the cork plus one 500 g mass in the first column.
4. Click on the Delete Last Run Button on lower right.
5. Now repeat Procedure 1 steps 2-6 and Analysis steps 1- 4 with 2 masses, 3 masses and
4 masses in the cork tray. Try to use about the same speed as before.
6. On the Friction Force vs. Normal Force (kinetic, static, fast, vs. N) graph to the right,

use the Curve Fit ( ) tool to best fit a straight line and determine the slope for
both the static and kinetic data. First Click on the static data to highlight it. Then click
on the triangle in the Curve Fit tool and select Proportional. This forces the line to pass
through the origin. Why does this make sense? Now click anywhere on the graph
outside of the black box to get rid of the black box. You may need to move the
Proportional Curve Fit box to read the slope (A). Click the triangle again and click
Proportional to turn it off. What is the physical meaning of the slope? Enter the value of
the slope in the table on the Conclusions page. Repeat the process for the kinetic data.
How well does your data fit straight lines?
7. Now repeat the procedure using a higher speed for the cart except don’t do Procedure 1
step 1 or Analysis 1 step 1. In step 6 above, determine the slope of the fast data and
enter it under fast kin column in the table under the Conclusions tab. Enter the speed
(from step 5 of Procedure 1) in the table on the Data 2 page. Examine the Friction
Force vs. Normal Force graph. In problems we assume that the kinetic friction is
independent of the speed. Do your results support this assumption?

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 6 of 8

PROCEDURE 2:

7. Repeat Procedure 1 steps 2-6 at low speed using the felt and plastic bottomed Friction
Trays with four 500g masses in each. Do Analysis steps 1, 2, & 4 except enter the force
data on the Data 3 page in Felt Static, Felt Kinetic, Plastic Static, and Plastic Kinetic rows.
Take the take the total mass to be 2100 g. Assuming a zero intercept, calculate the slope of
a Friction Force vs. Normal Force plot for each cart (should be able to do this without
plotting anything). Record in table on the Conclusions page.

8. Using the two plastic bottomed trays (or any two trays with the same bottom), place two
500 gram masses in each tray.

9. Stack one tray on top of the other (see Fig. 1). Repeat Procedure 1 steps 2-6 with two 500 g
masses in each cart. As before, determine the maximum static force and the kinetic force at
constant velocity. Enter the results on the data 3 page in the Stack Static and Stack Kinetic
rows.

10. Hook on tray behind the other (see Fig. 2). This gives the same normal force, but twice the
surface area of contact. Repeat Procedure 1 steps 2-5 with two 500 g masses in each cart.
As before, determine the maximum static force and the kinetic force at constant velocity.
Enter the results on the data 3 page in the Train Static and Train Kinetic rows.

Figure 1

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 7 of 8

Figure 2

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Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 8 of 8

CONCLUSIONS

C
Force

A D

Time

1. The graph above is representative of the force applied to an object as it is pulled across a
horizontal surface. Draw a force diagram for each of the positions labeled in the graph
above. Describe the motion of the object for the positions labeled in the graph.

2. What relationship exists between the static frictional force and the normal force on an
object? If they are directly proportional, what can you conclude about the uncertainties in
this experiment? What factors would explain a rather large spread in your data? Hint:
examine the graph under the Analysis tab.

3. What is the physical meaning of the slope for the frictional force vs. normal force graphs?

4. Why should the vertical intercept for the frictional force vs. normal force graphs be zero?

5. Did the speed affect the kinetic friction? If you saw a difference, was it significant? Why or
why not?

6. Did the normal force on the friction tray affect either the coefficient of static friction or the
coefficient of kinetic friction? Explain.

7. Rank the friction trays from highest coefficients of friction to lowest. What is physically
different with the surfaces with high coefficients versus the surfaces with low coefficients?
Explain.

8. What pattern do you notice between the values of the coefficients of static and kinetic
friction? Why is this important when driving a car? For rubber tires, the difference

Written by Chuck Hunt


Sliding Friction EX-5508 Page 9 of 8

between static and kinetic is much larger than for cork.

9. Why do anti-lock brakes help to avoid automobile accidents?

10. Does the frictional force depend on the surface area of contact (remember that your
uncertainties are rather large)? Explain how you know! Hint: consider the Stack versus
Train experiment. What is the advantage of having wide tires on a car?

Written by Chuck Hunt

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