At a busy street crossing, people wait for the signal to change. When one person steps out first, others soon follow. Scientists in Amsterdam have found that this same kind of behavior happens at a ...
Earlier, we saw that the work done by friction on a particle sliding on a rough surface is negative, causing a loss in total mechanical energy as the particle slides. Here, we will address the ...
Sometimes you think you have a complete understanding of something and then BOOM—a simple problem throws everything out the window. Let's consider a very basic physics problem involving pushing a ...
Really, this is the experiment I wanted to start on. How does friction work in Bad Piggies? Let me start with a quick summary of my experiments so far. Scale. For the size of stuff in Bad Piggies, I ...
A new analysis of the 2018 collapse of Kilauea volcano's caldera helps to confirm the reigning scientific paradigm for how friction works on earthquake faults. The model quantifies the conditions ...
Create a Physics World account to get access to all available digital issues of the monthly magazine. Your Physics World ...
Opinion
Dot Physics on MSNOpinion

Common mistakes in calculating work done by friction

Avoid common pitfalls when calculating work done by friction! This video highlights the most frequent mistakes students make, from misinterpreting frictional forces to applying formulas incorrectly.
Nanomachines will depend on our knowledge of friction, heat transfer and energy dissipation at the atomic level for their very survival. In the scramble to revolutionize the world with nanotechnology ...
Is friction real? Once, with the quiet certainty of someone who just stayed up all night in the company of equations describing concrete, my college roommate told me that friction was made up. Now, ...