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Re: Friction



Conjecture: Sticking friction depends on the area, sliding friction does
not. This would explain the wide tires on race cars. Modern race cars are
designed not to slide except in extreme situations. The older cars, up
through the mid '60's, were designed to slide in a controlled way through
corners. Tires in those days were narrower and a typical photo of a race
driver, e.g. England's Archie Scott-Brown, showed the car "crossed up" in
hard corners.

Charlie

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could help me with a demonstration I have had
trouble with. I place a block of wood on a tilted desk and tilt it to
the angle that just makes the block move and secure the desk. Then I put
the block on another edge (with a different surface area) to show that the
frictional force and the coefficient of friction do not change with
surface area. The problem is that the block always stays put on the side
with the large surface area and slides on the side with the small surface
area. Any explanations? Thanks in adavance for any help.

John DaCorte