Re: tribophysics

[Joseph Bellina <jbellina@saintmarys.edu>]

I seem to be the harbenger of no knowledge, having just responded to the 
question about tribology.  As it happens, know one knows why things are 
tribolectric.  Some years ago, the best theorist in the business took a 
serious stab at it, and got results that made no sense when compared to 
experimental results.  So whatever information you will find will be 
empirical.  Like friction, I suspect that the triboelectric scale, 
whatever it is, will be very sensitive to the state of the contacting 
surfaces at the atomic level.  Thus the list will be a rough guide at 
best.

cheers

On Tue, 8 Apr 1997, Keith C. Tipton wrote:

> Haha, do you know what that is?  I had to look it up myself.
>
> I am looking for a source of into about triboelectric behavior of 
> different materials.  I recently had some unexpected (but not uncommon, 
> so I'm told) trouble rubbing wool on a plastic rod.  Sometimes the rod 
> charged up negatively, sometimes positively.  It was suggested that the 
> materials were too close on a 'triboelectric scale.'  Well, maybe, maybe 
> not.  Where can I find information like that?  It's not in the old 
> physics books I used in college.  Is it engineering info?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Keith
>
>
>
> "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid
> the real labor of thinking." -Sir Joshua Reynolds.
>
> Keith Tipton, kctipton@tenet.edu, kctipton@concentric.net, Houston, TEXAS!