Friction

This article describes a force type.
View a complete list of force types

Definition

Intensional definition

Friction (sometimes called sliding friction to distinguish from rolling friction) is the component of contact force between two bodies with a surface of contact acting in a direction along (or parallel to) the surface of contact, or the tangent plane through the point of contact.

The term friction refers by default to dry friction: friction where the two surfaces of contact are dry and solid. The typical model used for such friction is the Coulomb model of friction.

Tendency-based definition

Friction refers to a force exerted by two bodies on each other, through a surface of contact, that tends to oppose slipping of the two surfaces of contact against each other. Note that static friction opposes the tendency indicated by the direction of net external force along the plane of contact, while kinetic friction opposes the direction of actual motion.

Situational examples

Here, where there are only two surfaces in contact, we denote by $\mu _{s}$ the limiting coefficient of static friction and by $\mu _{k}$ the coefficient of kinetic friction. $g$ is the acceleration due to gravity.

Example	Kind of friction (static versus kinetic)	Direction of friction force on each body	Magnitude of friction force	Reason
Block sliding along a fixed horizontal plane, no external applied forces	Kinetic friction	Opposite direction of motion of block on block, along direction of motion of block on the plane	$\mu _{k}mg$ where $m$ is the mass of the block	The normal force equals $mg$
Block sliding along an inclined plane, angle $\theta$ with horizontal, no external applied forces	Kinetic friction	Opposite direction of motion of block on block, along direction of motion of block on surface	$\mu _{k}mg\cos \theta$ where $m$ is the mass of the block	The normal force equals $mg\cos \theta$

Related forces

Types of friction

• Static friction: This is friction exerted when the surfaces of contact are not slipping relative to each other. This occurs, for instance, both when the surfaces are stationary, and in the case of rolling. Static friction acts to precisely cancel the net external force along the plane of contact. According to the Coulomb model of friction, the maximum possible value of static friction is $\mu _{s}N$ where $N$ is the normal force and $\mu _{s}$ is the limiting coefficient of static friction for the two surfaces.
• Kinetic friction or dynamic friction: This is friction exerted when the surfaces are slipping relative to each other. Kinetic friction acts in the direction opposite to the direction of slipping. According to the Coulomb model of friction, for small relative velocities, its magnitude is $\mu _{k}N$, where $N$ is the normal force and $\mu _{k}$ is the coefficient of kinetic friction.

Forces between rigid bodies

• Rolling friction: This is not really friction, but rather, a normal force that effectively plays the role of friction due to local deformations of the surface.
• Normal force: The component of contact force in the direction perpendicular to the plane of contact.

Other friction-like forces

• Viscous force that acts for motion in a liquid.
• Air resistance

External links

Instructional video links

Video link	Segment	Contextual information	Transcript link	Transcript segment
MIT OCW lecture on friction by Walter Lewin	full video	Covers most of the standard introductory material on friction along with some experimental demonstrations	same as video link	full transcript
Open Yale Courses lecture by Ramamurthi Shankar	?	?	same as video link	?
Khan Academy videos on friction: Introduction to friction, Friction on an inclined plane, A more complicated friction/inclined plane problem, Work/Energy problem with friction	full videos		unavailable

Other video links

• WatchKnow videos from friction category

Links to online texts/course notes

• Connexions module on friction by Sunil Kumar Singh
• Connexions module on friction applications by Sunil Kumar Singh