Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Friction



On Mon, 4 Nov 1996 08:51:07 -0700 (MST) roger haar said:
For a good primer of the current understanding of friction, I
suggest the article on friction in the October 1996
Scientific American. In it the frictional force argued that the
frictional force is proportional to the true ( atomic level)
contact area.

You're right, this is an excellent article. Thanks for pointing it out. The
molecular level experiments described are amazing. It seems that friction
results from sound vibrations so squeal those tires! It may be that for a
soft compliant material like rubber the aparent and true area are very close,
so to get maximum traction you put more rubber on the road. Of course to do
this you have to reduce tire pressure. If you reduce pressure with a constant
width the tire sidewall will distort to an unacceptable degree, but by going
to a wider tire a constant and acceptable sidewall deflection can be maintained
at the lower tire pressure.