The friction force is the force existing between two surfaces when they touch and that affects the opposite direction of movement, being considered a resistance. Newton's first law of motion states that a moving object tends to stay in motion unless some external force slows or stops it.
The force of friction slows down moving objects and reduces the energy behind them. For example, when a child on a bicycle stops pedaling, the bicycle slows down due to friction between the tires and the sidewalk. Friction also creates heat, like when a person rubs their hands.
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There are different types of friction such as friction between bodies and air, friction between solids, and friction between bodies and water.
Main advantages of friction
Friction plays a vital role in life on Earth. Without friction, almost nothing could be done.
1-It becomes difficult to walk on a slippery road due to low friction. When a person moves on ice, it becomes difficult to walk due to the low friction of the ice with the shoe. The friction between the sole of a shoe and the surface of the ground prevents us from slipping.
To improve friction, it is advisable to wear rough-soled shoes while walking on slippery floors.
For a similar reason, crutches are provided with rubber tips on their underside, to provide sufficient friction.
2-For the weather, meteorologists found that friction slows surface wind speeds, making them less volatile.
Friction also encourages surface air masses to merge and rise, which helps the rain cycle. Rough terrain, trees, and buildings create friction that acts on wind speed.
3-The friction between the animals' feet and the ground makes running and walking easier. In fact, without friction, the animals would have difficulty standing.
It is like the scene of someone sliding on a banana peel: if there is no friction, people and animals cannot walk.
They could not plant their feet firmly on the ground. There would be no friction (i.e. traction) to keep your feet from sliding all over the place.
4-In everyday life, the friction between the road and the tires of a car helps the driver to control the speed of the vehicle. By applying the brakes, it allows the car to slow down to a stop.
5-Friction also makes writing on paper possible. When using a pencil, the friction of the paper causes the lead in the pencil to dry out.
When using a ballpoint pen, friction triggers the ball to roll, thus releasing the ink from the pen.
6-While in space the meteors and comets do not have the force to stop, when they hit the Earth's atmosphere, not only does the friction of the atmosphere slow them down, but it tends to separate them into smaller pieces, thus reducing their impact. on the surface of the Earth.
7-Friction welding works by using a compressive force in conjunction with friction-induced heat to join two surfaces together.
Friction-induced heating softens metal components to make them moldable.
This welding method allows different materials to be joined (eg wood and metal) and increases productivity in manufacturing industries.
8-In a camping or survival environment, friction can be used to start fires.
The friction created by rubbing two pieces of wood heats the wood until it reaches combustion temperature (around 425 degrees Celsius or 800 degrees Fahrenheit) and ignites.
For this to work, the wood must be fairly dry and have little or no resin present.
9-The ridges on the skin of our fingers and palms allow us to grasp and hold objects due to friction.
10-You could not fix the nail in the wood or the wall if there is no friction and a horse could not pull a cart unless the friction provided a safe point of support.
Disadvantages of friction
Despite the fact that friction is very important in everyday life, it also has some disadvantages such as:
1-The main disadvantage of friction is that it produces heat in various parts of the machines. In this way useful energy is expended as a loss in thermal energy.
For example, car engines get hotter due to friction. This could overheat and damage them.
2-Due to friction, more power must be exerted on the machines to overcome losses.
3-It opposes the motion, that is, it counteracts the movement, so it takes more energy to move.
4-Due to friction, noise is produced in machines.
5-Due to friction, car engines consume more fuel, which causes a loss of money.
6-The efficiency of a machine decreases, since part of the energy input is lost in heat by friction.
7-Forest fires are due to friction between the branches of the trees.
8-The added friction makes it difficult to move an object, such as sliding a box across the ground or walking in deep snow.
9-Any device that has moving parts can wear out quickly due to friction. An example that friction wears is an eraser.
10-The friction heat product can be enough to cause abrasion of the skin, resulting in a chafing.
Rubber tubes such as gastric and duodenal tubes, rectal tubes, and catheters can burn or irritate the membrane they pass over, unless steps are taken to avoid friction.
References
- City Collegiate Editorial Team. (2017). "ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF FRICTION - METHODS OF REDUCING FRICTION". Recovered from citycollegiate.com
- Syeda. (2017). "What are the advantage and disadvantage of friction?" Recovered from nextgurukul.in
- Whetzel, J. (2017). "List of the Advantages of Friction." Recovered from sciencing.com
- Frndzzz editor team. (2015). "Advantages and Disadvantages of Friction". Recovered from frndzzz.com
- Soffar, H. (2016). "The advantage and the disadvantage of friction and the ways to decrease the friction." Recovered from online-sciences.com
- Edurite's editorial team. (2015). "Disadvantages of Friction". Recovered from edurite.com.