I'll be honest—friction is pretty complicated. Imagine that I have a block of wood sliding on a table. In some way, the atoms on the surface of the wood block are interacting with the surface atoms on ...

A further development in atomic force microscopy now makes it possible to simultaneously image the height profile of nanometer-fine structures as well as the electric current and the frictional force ...

I don't normally watch many NASCAR races, but I do come across some NASCAR videos online. Sometimes these clips become the basis of a great physics problem. In this case, it's a 21-car crash at the ...

You’re not just imagining it, objects really are harder to shift the longer they sit there. A pair of scientists think they have discovered why. Have you ever had the impression that heavy items of ...

Friction is responsible for about twenty percent of the world energy consumption. The main reason for this is that frictional forces slow down the motion of surfaces in contact: think of the moving ...

Frictional forces play a role in many activities – riding a bike, going bowling, and even lighting a match. When two surfaces rub together they create friction, which works to slow movement down. In ...

Unbalanced forces are generally due to a forward force (or thrust) and a frictional force working against each other. Friction is a force that opposes motion. It is present whenever two surfaces rub ...

The frictional forces in a tidal current have been determined from simultaneous observations of the surface gradients and the currents at various depths. The observations were made a few miles from ...

Energy is 'lost' or not used effectively when frictional forces occur. For example, when a bike applies its brakes and slows down the kinetic energy of the bike is transformed into heat energy in the ...