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Re: Rolling friction (again)



PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu writes:
Can a rolling tire flex on a frictionless surface?

Huh? If you smash a tire against a surface,
it will deform, whether or not it's rolling,
whether or not the surface is slippery.

I think he salient issue here is that there will not be "flexing " losses
on a frictionless surface as the tire has nothing to make it rotate and
the flex will be fixed. Thus the energy lost in the flexing of the tire on
a real road won't happen in the "frictionless" world.

Ken Fox
Science Department Coordinator
IB Physics Teacher
Smoky Hill High School
Aurora, CO
kfox@mail.ccsd.k12.co.us