LAB 3: FRICTION FORCES EVALUATION

Fredy Cortez, James Slaughter, and Justin Treichel

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX 77843, US.

Abstract Friction is the result of two surfaces rubbing together which results in a dissipation of heat. Static friction
describes the frictional tension between two surfaces that are not in motion. As forces such as gravity impact the
velocity and acceleration of an object, static friction prevents the object from succumbing to those forces. Kinetic
friction describes the frictional force between an object moving along a non-frictionless surface. The velocity and
acceleration of an object is inhibited by kinetic friction as kinetic friction works against the force that propels an
object. It is important to account for friction in experimental design as it impacts the velocity and acceleration of
both stationary and mobile objects.
Keywords: static friction, kinetic friction

1. Introduction
The goal of the friction forces lab is to demonstrate the properties of surface area in relation to static and kinetic
friction coefficients. The method by which this was experimented was by using a wooden block and an adjustable
incline plane. Since the wooden block was a rectangular prism, the friction force of the faces with the larger and
smaller surfaces was measured. The static friction coefficient was estimated by measuring the angle of the inclined
plane just before the block moved. The kinetic friction coefficient was calculated by measuring the acceleration of
the block as it slides at a certain angle.

𝑥2 − 𝑥1 Equation 1
where 𝑥 is the horizontal position of the stationary dots, pink and yellow, respectively

2 2 2
𝑎 +𝑏 =𝑐 Equation 2
where a and b are the legs of a triangular inclined plane

𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡
θ = 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑠( ℎ𝑦𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑒 ) Equation 3
where θ is the angle between the leg adjacent to the angle and the hypotenuse

µ𝑠 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛(θ) Equation 4
where µ𝑠 is the static friction coefficient and θ is the angular value in degrees

σ
SE = Equation 5
𝑛
where σ is the standard deviation of the sample, and n is the number of data points in the sample

𝑎𝑥−𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛(θ)
µ𝑘= −𝑐𝑜𝑠(θ)
Equation 6\
where 𝑎𝑥 is the acceleration of the block, g is the gravitational acceleration constant and theta is the angle made by
the incline

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2. Experimental Procedure
The experiment was initiated by connecting a laptop to the Linux tracking system. An adjustable incline and a
wooden block in the shape of a rectangular prism were placed in-frame of the tracking camera. To measure the
static friction of the long side of the block, the block was placed on the incline plane with the larger surface placed
onto the incline. The tracking camera program was started. The plane was raised until the block had started
moving; then, the plane was flattened. This process was repeated nine times and the tracking system was ended.
The static friction for the smaller side of the block was measured by placing the smaller side of the block on the
inclined plane. The tracking camera program was started. The plane was raised until the block had started moving;
then, the plane was flattened. This process was repeated nine times and the tracking system was ended. The kinetic
friction for this long side of the block was measured by placing it on the inclined plane with the larger surface
placed onto the incline. The tracking camera program was started. The plane was raised, and the block was allowed
to slide to the end of the inclined plane at a constant angle; then, the plane was flattened. This process was repeated
nine times and the tracking system was ended. The kinetic friction for this short side of the block was measured by
placing it on the inclined plane with the smaller surface placed onto the incline. The tracking camera program was
started. The plane was raised, and the block was allowed to slide to the end of the inclined plane at a constant
angle; then, the plane was flattened. This process was repeated nine times and the tracking system was ended. The
tracking camera also collected the position, velocity, and acceleration of the block.

The static friction coefficients for the small and long faces were calculated by approximating the angle of the
incline at which the block began to fall. This was done by calculating the difference in the gathered positions of the
trackable stickers (equation 1) on the horizontal, stationary leg of the inclined plane as well as the lengths of the
angled plane using the Pythagorean theorem (equation 2). From this data, the inverse cosine function (equation 3)
was used to estimate the angles of the inclined plane. Using the angle values, the tangent function (equation 4) was
used to find the static friction coefficient for the nine trials of the small and long faces. The results of this were then
averaged to find the average static friction coefficient. The standard error (equation 5) of the average static friction
coefficients was also calculated. A similar process was used to calculate the kinetic friction coefficients, except that
during these trials the block was allowed to slide the entire length of the incline. The angle of the incline was
calculated the same way in the static friction trials. The velocity and acceleration of the block was calculated by the
tracking program. After determining the angle of the incline and the acceleration of the block, Equation 6 was used
to calculate the coefficient of kinetic friction for the small and long sides. The results of this were then averaged to
find the average kinetic friction coefficient. The standard error (equation 5) of the average kinetic friction
coefficients was also calculated.

3. Results and Analysis

Using Equation 4, the static coefficients of friction should be fairly consistent throughout the experiment
as its calculation is dependent on a single variable: the angle. On the other hand, the coefficient of kinetic friction
will also be dependent on the acceleration of the block, so we expect the necessity for a more careful calculation for
the kinetic coefficient of friction. Nonetheless, our observations should hold true to the theory by Newton's second
law.

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According to the data collected, the theory ended up being consistent. The results of the experiment show that the
coefficient of kinetic friction was smaller than the coefficient of static friction which was expected through
observation of the theory. The standard error of each value shows that each value is precise but not necessarily
accurate.

4. Conclusions

This lab's objective was to calculate the coefficients of both the static and kinetic friction by utilizing the known
positional vectors to find the total length of both the base and the angled plane and then deriving the angle with this
data. Then, deriving the frictional coefficients from our known frictional forces. The resulting data produced
represents the differences between the strength of static friction and kinetic friction as well as how surface area
touched by the plane can change these outcomes. Overall, our data agrees with the general theory in which the
coefficient of static friction is higher than the coefficient of kinetic friction, and the greater the surface area the
higher the coefficient is. The final standard deviations of each piece of data allow the conclusion that although the
coefficients of static and kinetic friction have a degree of concordance, do not agree with each other.