10: Design a simple experiment that you could carry out in your home to i) deter

Question

10: Design a simple experiment that you could carry out in your home to

i) determine the coefficient of static friction between an object and a surface.

ii) prove that the coefficient of static friction is dependant only on the surfaces in contact, and is not affected by any change in the mass of your object.

a) describe your plan, it must include a list of materials, a diagram of the set-up, and an explanation of the steps you would take and the data you would collect.

b) explain how you would analyze the collected data to determine the coefficient of static friction and prove that it is unaffected by any change in the mass of your object.

c) state one possible source of error that you might econcounter in this experiment and state the steps you took to minimize or eliminate this source of error.

Explanation / Answer

i)

Coefficient of static friction is given as

us = Fs/Fn                        where fs = static frictional force and Fn = normal force

we can calculate the normal force for a object lying on horizontal surface by simply weighing its weight

we can then connect the object by a string and other end of string is connected with a pan over a pulley

we can start putting known weights to the pan and note down the reading of pan when the objectb starts moving

the weight in the pan is nothing but the value of static friction force

we can then use the above formula to calculate the Coefficient of static friction

ii)

Coefficient of friction is constant for each surface. it is the ratio. if we increase the mass of object, the weight in the pan also increase in the same proportion and hence keeps the coefficient of friction constant

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