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Coefficients of Friction
Equipment:

1 Motion Sensor PS-2103A

1 Force Sensor PS-2189
1 Dynamics System ME-6955
1 Discover Friction ME-8574
1 Motorized Cart ME-9781
2 Compact Mass ME-6755
1 Braided String SE-8050
Required, but not included:
1 Balance SE-8723

Introduction

The Friction Trays have different materials on their bottom surface. The Motorized Cart (see Fig.
1) is used to pull the trays in a controlled manner along the track, as the Force Sensor directly
measures the frictional force. All parameters are investigated, including speed, normal force, and
surface area.

Figure 1: Measuring Sliding Friction

Setup

1. Set up the track as shown in Figure 1, and use the adjustable feet to level the track.

2. Connect the Motion Sensor to the PASPORT input P1, and attach it to the track. Make
sure the switch on the top of the Motion Sensor is set to “cart”.

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3. Connect the Force Sensor to the PASPORT input P4. Using the long thumbscrew, attach
the Force Sensor to the cart as shown in Figure 2. Place the Cart/Force Sensor assembly
on the track. Change the sample rate to 10 Hz. Open the properties for the Force Sensor
in the Data Summary and check the Change Sign box.

4. Connect the Motorized Cart power cord to Output #1, and make sure the cart is on the
OFF/EXTERNAL setting. With the DC Voltage set to 2 volts, turn the output on and off
to ensure that the cart is working. You can open and close the output window by clicking
on the Signal Generator icon in the tool palette.

5. Connect the Friction Trays to the Force Sensor using string as shown in Figure 2. The
lower tray should have the black felt surface. You must always pull with two carts
stacked, so that the Force Sensor pulls level. For the top tray, use one of the trays with the
white plastic on the bottom. The lower end of the string is just looped around the tray
hook: This makes it easier to swap out the lower tray to change the surface.

6. Place both silver cart masses in the upper friction tray. If the Motorized Cart has trouble
pulling the load, add the black Compact Masses to the cart in front of the Force Sensor. If
you still have trouble, remove one of the silver masses from the tray.

Figure 2: Towing the Friction Carts

7. Make a graph of velocity vs. time and add a plot area and put force in the second plot
area. Select a Quick-Calc for the velocity (-v) to change the sign of the velocity so it will
be positive.

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Procedure: Measuring Speed and Force

1. Position the cart and trays at the far end of the track, opposite the motion sensor. This is
the starting position for all the runs.

2. Open the Signal Generator window, and set the voltage for 1.0 volt DC. The output
should be set on Auto, which will automatically turn on the cart when you start recording
data, and stop the cart when data collection is ended.

3. Click on Record. Stop recording before the cart hits the motion sensor.

4. If the Motorized Cart can't pull the load, increase the voltage to 1.5 volts.

5. Adjust the Motion Sensor if necessary to get good velocity data.

6. The force data will be noisy, but you will be able to get an average reading. Try using the
Smoothing tool in the Graph tool palette.

Changing Speed:

1. Change the sample rate of all the sensors to a common rate of 20 Hz.

2. Create a table with three columns: In the first column, create a User-Entered data set
called Voltage (units of V); In the second column, create a Run-Tracked User-Entered
data set called Speed (units of cm/s) ); In the third column, create a Run-Tracked User-
Entered data set called Friction (units of N).

3. Use the Coordinates tool to measure the speed and the frictional force. Pick a time that
has reasonably good data for both.

4. Record your values in the table.

5. Repeat for voltages of 1.5 V, 2.0 V, 2.5 V, etc. up to 5.0 volts.

6. Create a graph of Friction vs. Speed. What trend can you see in the data? How does the
frictional force depend on the speed?

7. Take the ratio of the fastest speed/ slowest speed. By what factor did you vary the speed?
By what factor did the resulting frictional force change? Would you say that the friction
changed a little or a lot?

8. Does your data support the concept that it is a useful approximation to assume that
sliding friction is independent of speed?

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Changing Normal Force:

1. Create a table with four columns: In the first column, create a Run-Tracked User-Entered
data set called Tray (unitless); In the second column, create a User-Entered data set called
Mass (units of g); In the third column, create a calculation (units of N)

Normal Force₁ = [Mass (g)]*9.8/1000

In the fourth column, select Friction.

2. Replace the lower felt tray with a tray that has a white plastic surface. Start with both
trays empty, and use the balance to determine the mass. Calculate the combined weight,
and enter this as the normal force in the table below.

3. Set the voltage output to 1.5 volts. Click on Record. Stop recording before the cart hits
the motion sensor.

4. Using the graph, note the approximate speed and, if necessary, adjust the voltage in later
runs to keep the speed the same.

5. Record the frictional force in the table. Add the 4 mass bars (one at a time) and repeat.
You should end up with 5 values.

6. Create a graph of Friction vs. Normal Force1. What trend can you see in the data? Try a
linear Curve Fit. Is your data linear?

7. Most text books make the assumption that

f = μN (1)

where f = friction, N= normal force, and μ = the frictional coefficient. Does your data
support this assumption? What are the units for μ?

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Changing Surface Material:

1. Create a table with four columns: In the first column, create a User-Entered data set
called Cart Material (unitless); In the second column, create a User-Entered data set
called Normal Force (units of N); In the third column, create a User-Entered data set
called Frictional Force (units of N); In the fourth column, create a calculation (unitless)

μ = [Frictional Force (N)]/[Normal Force (N)]

2. Remove all but one of the mass bars. Click on Record, and use the graph to measure the
frictional force.

3. Coefficients are always between two surfaces. What is the other surface?

4. Replace the lower plastic tray with a tray with black felt and repeat. Replace the lower
felt tray with a tray with brown cork material and repeat.

5. Which material has the largest coefficient? Which has the least?

6. What type of friction are you measuring: Static or Sliding (Kinetic) friction?

Changing Area:

1. Connect the trays as shown in Figure 3. The bottom two trays should both be the white
plastic. Place one of the silver mass bars in each of the two upper trays, and perform the
pull test as before.

2. Measure the force from the graph and use equation (1) to calculate the coefficient of
friction for the white plastic material.

3. How does this value (with twice the surface area) compare to your previous values? Most
text books assume that sliding friction is independent of surface area. Do you agree?

Figure 3: Changing Surface Area

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Static Friction:

1. Increase the sample rate of the force sensor to 2 kHz (the maximum).

2. On the graph, change the negative velocity to the Position.

3. Remove the trailing two trays, returning to the original set-up pulling only two trays. The
lower tray should be cork. Place both silver masses in the upper tray, and both black
masses on the Motorized Cart in front of the Force Sensor. If the cart won't pull the trays,
remove one of the silver masses.

4. The Signal Generator is now set to ramp up its voltage, to slowly increase the pulling
force over a 10 second period. If the trays don't break free and move in that time, increase
the voltage amplitude.

5. Click on Record. As soon as the tray starts to slide, click on stop.

6. Examine your data on the graph. You can see from the position data where the tray starts
to slide, and the value of the sliding friction force after this point. In the time before this,
what does the force data look like?

7. Most materials show a value for static friction slightly larger than for sliding (kinetic)
friction. Does your data support this? What is your largest value for the Static
coefficient?

Written by Jon Hanks