Say we consider a simple experiment of balancing a wooden rod on two fingers. The finger on the left, (1), will remain stationary, whereas the finger on the right, (2), will be moved toward the left.

Now I get to do something with that force scale I built. I had a request some time ago to talk about friction. Friction is surprisingly complicated. When two surfaces rub against each other, why is ...

A new analysis of the 2018 collapse of Kilauea volcano's caldera helps to confirm the reigning scientific paradigm for how friction works on earthquake faults. The model quantifies the conditions ...

Show that static friction is greater than kinetic friction by pulling on a wooden box using a spring scale. Clamp the board to a table. (Optional) Select the 50 N scale on the force probe and connect ...

Memory fault: friction study could provide new insights into why earthquakes happen. (Courtesy: iStock/allanswort) Experiments by Sam Dillavou and Shmuel Rubinstein at Harvard University have, for the ...

Researchers have demonstrated how to entirely suppress static friction between two surfaces. This means that even a minuscule force suffices to set objects in motion. Especially in micromechanical ...

To study fine touch, selecting samples based on how many mechanical instabilities they can form is more predictive than using the friction coefficient, which has been the default choice.

Introduction Sometimes friction can be annoying. It can make it difficult to push heavy things like furniture and it can even give you a nasty scrape if you fall. But friction is actually very ...

Whenever you get around to doing dishes, how easily water slides down a dirty plate depends on how uneven and crusty the plate’s surface is. At the nanoscale, however, where surface features can be ...

Researchers in China have isolated the effects of electronic friction, showing for the first time how the subtle drag force ...