Measuring the coefficient of friction

  • #1
Hi!
Sorry if this isn't a good question, but for an experiment, I wanted to try measuring the coefficient of friction of frozen solutions, but wasn't sure how to do it? I thought that since ice would have a low coefficient of friction, it would be interesting to see if solutions with water and some other solute would affect that?

I thought also that since the friction from ice so low, I would have to choose the other material as something that has more friction so it's easier to measure (maybe rubber?), but then I wasn't sure how to do the actual ice part.

When we did those experiments in class, we used a ramp and a block to find the coefficient of friction between the two, but I was wondering if it would be okay if we had the ramp stay as the same material, and then change the "block", which would be the ice?
Thanks!
 

Answers and Replies

  • #2
The coefficient of friction depend on both contacting surfaces. Change one surface and the coefficient of friction changes. Ice on wood is different than ice on steel for example. And for ice you have other complicating factors as temperature and pressure.
 

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