THEORY
If a body rests on an incline plane the body is prevented from sliding down because of the frictional resistance. If the angle of the plane is increased there will be an angle at which the body begins to slide down the plane. This is the angle of repose and the tangent of this angle is the same as the coefficient of friction.
µ=tan()
Coefficient of friction is a dimensionless scalar value which describes the ratio of the force of friction between two bodies and the force pressing them together.
The coefficient of friction depends on the material used.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Appartus required :-
The objects required are a long rectangular wooden plank, wooden tile, plastic tile, aluminium tile and measuring tape.
Procedure:-
- The wooden tile was kept at the edge of the wooden plank.
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The plank was lifted from that end to the height which will allow the tile to slide down the plank.
Figure 1: angle () used to find the coefficient of friction
- The height (h) and distance (D) was measured using a measuring tape.
- The experiment was repeated to record three readings for the wooden, aluminium and plastic tiles.
RESULTS
Material 1:- Plastic
Table 1: coefficient of friction for the plastic tileon the wooden plank.
Material 2:- Wood
Table 2: coefficient of friction for the wooden tile on the wooden plank.
Material 3:- Aluminium
Table 3: coefficient of friction for the aluminium tile on the wooden plank.
DISCUSSIONS
On comparing the theoretical values with the experimental values, they may not be similar because in practice, the wooden ramp’s surface is not uniform with the roughness of the surface, therefore the blocks may slide earlier or later in different trials.
CONCLUSIONS
The coefficient of friction for plastic is 0.563.
The coefficient of friction for wood is 0.421.
The coefficient of friction for Aluminium 0.516
REFERENCES
