Direction of damping force on a surface

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the behavior of a particle bouncing on a surface with viscous damping. The frictional force acts perpendicular to the surface and is influenced by the particle's velocity, particularly its component perpendicular to the surface when the surface is tilted. It is clarified that damping friction cannot be expressed solely in terms of gravitational force, as it depends on the particle's velocity. The damping force can be calculated using the perpendicular component of velocity, which may involve a cosine factor for angled surfaces. Additionally, alternative methods for measuring damping force, such as using a tensometer, are mentioned, but velocity remains the simplest approach for experiments.
kakarot1905
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Hi

Suppose a particle is bouncing on a surface with a viscous damping coefficient...

Question 1:
The frictional force = -c(viscous damping coefficient)*v(velocity of the particle)

But what is the direction of this force?
Perpendicular [down] to surface?

So if the surface is tilted at an angle what would the frictional force be?

Question 2:
Is it possible to express frictional force [due to damping] using force due to gravity (on the point of impact) and not velocity?

Thanks
 
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kakarot1905 said:
But what is the direction of this force?
Perpendicular [down] to surface?
Yes.

So if the surface is tilted at an angle what would the frictional force be?
if your ball hits the surface perpendicularly - the force is as you wrote.
But if you just drop a ball on tilted surface, or throw it at any other angle, you will have combined effect of damping friction (depending on velocity component perpendicular to the surface), friction in motion parallel to the surface, and energy transfer to rotation of your ball.

Is it possible to express frictional force [due to damping] using force due to gravity (on the point of impact) and not velocity?
Nope. Just take extreme case: if you lay your ball on a table (velocity is 0) there is no dumping friction, but gravity is always the same.
 
xts said:
Yes.


if your ball hits the surface perpendicularly - the force is as you wrote.
But if you just drop a ball on tilted surface, or throw it at any other angle, you will have combined effect of damping friction (depending on velocity component perpendicular to the surface), friction in motion parallel to the surface, and energy transfer to rotation of your ball.

Is it possible to express frictional force [due to damping] using force due to gravity (on the point of impact) and not velocity?
Nope. Just take extreme case: if you lay your ball on a table (velocity is 0) there is no dumping friction, but gravity is always the same.


About the angled surface... Ignoring the surface friction, would the damping force decrease by an angle of cos(theta) or something like that?
 
About the angled surface... Ignoring the surface friction, would the damping force decrease by an angle of cos(theta) or something like that?
Yes, if you are not interested in rotation nor forces parallel to the surface, then damping friction depends on perpendicular component of the velocity - or, if you prefer, on speed*cos(theta)
 
xts said:
Yes, if you are not interested in rotation nor forces parallel to the surface, then damping friction depends on perpendicular component of the velocity - or, if you prefer, on speed*cos(theta)

Thanks for all the replies xts..

Do you know any other means of measuring the damping force [by the surface on the particle] other than using velocity?
 
You may use tensometer, or some kind of scale: eg a light plate glued on piezoelement, but velocity seems to be definitely the simplest and most feasible for no-budget home experiment
 
xts said:
You may use tensometer, or some kind of scale: eg a light plate glued on piezoelement, but velocity seems to be definitely the simplest and most feasible for no-budget home experiment

Thanks :)

One last question:
The force exerted by the plate at point of collision...
Is is it ok to say this force is damped by a factor (1–(c))?
 
kakarot1905 said:
The force exerted by the plate at point of collision...
Is is it ok to say this force is damped by a factor (1–(c))?
Oooch?
It definitely is wrong, I wonder why do you think so?
 
xts said:
Oooch?
It definitely is wrong, I wonder why do you think so?

Ok, is there any other possible way, the viscous damping coefficient [or the damping nature of the surface] affect the force exerted on the particle during its collision
 
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