Question:
Do speed and surface area affect the force of friction?
Ev H
2009-08-17 16:22:37 UTC
I'm doing an experiment for my physics class and am just making sure my data is correct.

I think I found that speed does not affect force of friction but surface area does. I'm not sure if I'm wrong for surface area especially though because it was the same box, just different sides of it (which means that the mass remained the same).

Thanks in advance!
Seven answers:
?
2009-08-17 17:13:19 UTC
You know, these forces of friction are basically based on the force applied on the surfaces in contact. The force pressing the surface will be met by another force N (Normal force, always perpendicular to the pressing surfaces) according to the Action and Reaction law of Newton.

Enlarging the area of contact will not vary the force F but will decrease pressure. But it won't show in the computation. (Please refer to figure below)



...... W.................W

.____↓___........__↓__

.\............/......./.........\

...\_____/......./_______\

▒▒▒↑▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒↑▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

.......N...................N



Irregardless of your contact area, Ff = µN

But if you have to specify the coefficient of static friction (µ), then your consideration of the larger area may fall on the characteristic of the surfaces in contact, whereby, you may specify a bigger coefficient.





...... W....................W

.____↓___...........__↓__

.\..P........./........./.p.......\

...\↓↓↓↓↓/........./↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓\

▒▒▒↑▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒↑▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

.......N....................N



If we have to analyze your point in terms of pressure, it will go this way:

................let a = smaller area

......................A = bigger area



the smaller area will give a pressure of



P = W/a



whereas the bigger area will give a pressure of



p = W/A



Now, the force F = pressure times area

...= P x A



So in the blocks, the Force will still come out the same, because



F = P x a <===for smaller area

F = p x A <====for bigger area



Smaller pressure is compensated by big area

Bigger pressure is compensated by small area

The result will be equal for force.
elifino
2009-08-17 18:52:31 UTC
Friction can depend on just about everything, including speed and surface area, depending on the materials and the magnitudes of the forces, speeds, and areas involved. The basic freshman-physics model that frictional force is just a constant times normal force, with different constants for static and dynamic cases, is a VERY VERY rough approximation that doesn't hold in a lot of real-world situations.



If you found in your experiment that your materials, in the range of normal forces and speeds you tested, had friction that was independent of speed, then that's what you report. You also report the precision to which you can say that. You could say, for example, that the difference was 1% with an error of 2%, therefore consistent with zero (just an example; I don't know how your numbers came out!).
Slaggers
2009-08-17 16:42:52 UTC
Hi There,



It's not clear what you mean by "friction". There are two main types of friction you're probably referring to. I'll discuss them both and you use the answer that suits what you're talking about.



Friction #1: Air friction



Air friction (also known as "drag") IS affected by BOTH the object's velocity AND surface area. The force of drag is given by:



F(drag) = -1/2*d*v^2*A*Cd



d = density of fluid

v = velocity

A = surface area

Cd = coefficient of drag



So as you can see in this case, the force of drag scales LINEARLY with surface area and scales as the SQUARE of the velocity. BOTH factors affect drag.



Friction #2: Surface friction



This is the friction experienced between two surfaces, like if you were dragging your little brother across the ground. In this situation, the force of friction DOES depend on the surface area of the object (i.e. the surface area touching the ground), but DOES NOT depend on the object's velocity (at least in most "simple" case one studies in physics class - there are some extreme cases where friction can be affected by velocity).





I hope one of those two options resolves your question. Good luck with your lab!















anaGAH.
OldPilot
2009-08-17 17:42:27 UTC
Mass does not matter. Try it again with the same side, but put weights on the box to change the normal force.



Speed may matter.If the box gets a little airborne, friction will decrease.



WORK matters. If you have a wearing surface then surface area matters.



Adhesion matters. If you have a sticky surface, area matters
The Better Gamer
2009-08-17 16:50:37 UTC
Well (as you may already know) friction is when two sides run up against each other at same or different speeds, causing heat.

The faster you go, the hotter it gets.

Yes, the surface area does affect the force of friction.

The more surface the object has, the slower it will heat up to a certain degree of heat.

But if you make it go faster, then it would heat up quicker.

Hard to explain though.

But to answer your question, yes.
anonymous
2009-08-17 16:46:04 UTC
Something's gone wrong



force of friction is the product of the coefficient of friction, and normal force; neither surface area nor speed change it.
?
2016-05-24 10:30:13 UTC
Neither affect friction, or rather, neither affects the coefficient of friction. However, the speed must be constant.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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