In our
static and kinetic friction lab, we were able to see how the weight of an
object affects its friction, measure its coefficients, and decipher is the
weight affects the coefficient. We were able to do all of these things and come
up with a solid conclusion in the end. We were able to see through the use of
F=umg, that the weight of the object didn’t matter in finding its coefficient.
Using the same equation for our different sets of data, both average
coefficients of kinetic friction is within a couple hundredths of each other.
The coefficient is not based upon weight because when we are finding the
coefficient, we use the formulas that a=mg and F=ma. We end up dividing the two
formulas so in the end we divide out the mass of the object making it useless.
Through this lab, we were able to track the forces needed in static friction
and kinetic friction. In graph #1, we see that there is a greater force needed
at the start because of the static friction (labeled in green). My partners and
I were able to do this lab fairly easily, though at the beginning there was
communication error and not too long after that I mistook 500 g for 500 kg,
throwing off my data. If I let it throw off my data by that much, I would have
had to divide by a much bigger normal force. Through everything, I found this
lab to be very fun and very informative and teaching for the concepts of static
and kinetic friction through the use of wooden blocks.
