- #1
monjinho
- 7
- 0
Homework Statement
The force of friction is equal to the normal force times the coefficient of friction
Homework Equations
f=Rμ
The Attempt at a Solution
so i was trying to understand this and failed to do so for such a long time...
If a man is pushing a box and i wanted to find the force of the box, I would have to find the frictional force and subtract it from the force the man is applying to the box. From this I know that the frictional force is existing horizontally. But when i look at the equation above, i see that the frictional force is the NORMAL FORCE times the coefficient of friction! The direction of the normal force is pointing up and how can you add or subtract so freely with a horizontal force(the force man is applying to the box) when the vectors are different?
I guess my question is: how can you have the frictional force be horizontal when you are mutiplying a constant with the normal force which is a vertical value??