Hey there! Are you ready to dive into the examples of friction? From the moment we wake up and start our day, friction is a constant companion. Think about it: every time we take a step, speak a word, play a game, or even put on clothes, we’re experiencing friction. You see, friction is a necessary evil. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to walk, run, or even stand upright. But, at the same time, friction can also cause wear and tear on our clothes and equipment, and it can slow us down. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at examples of friction.
Examples of friction:
- Lighting a matchstick
- Brushing your teeth to remove particles
- Mopping surfaces
- Ironing a shirt
- Writing on surfaces
- Working with an eraser
- Walking on an oily surface
- Holding onto objects
- Rubbing of hands to produce heat
- The belt holding your pants
- Hats/caps on your head
- Glasses on your nose
- Ring on your finger
- Flipping a page
- Use of ball bearings
- Coming down a Kid’s slide
- Nail fixed onto a wall
- Walking on the hard ground
- Sandpaper grinding
- Cycling on the road
- Brakes on motorcycles/car
- Gripping onto a baseball bat
- Tug of war
- Wear and tear of the shoe
- The ladder against a wall
- Pulley to draw water from the well
- Friction welding
- Gecko on a wall
- Climber plants
- Forest fires
- Swimming in water
- Water flow in the river
- Water flow through pipe systems
- The flow of ink in pens
- Lubrication
- Applying oil on door hinges
- The slow movement of coral reefs
- Flow sauce from bottles
- Cleaning of the surface using fluids
- Movement of ships/boats/fishes across the water
- Movement of aircraft
- Air resistance on your hands
- Skydiver
- Flying of birds/bats
- Kite
- Tress during cyclone
- Flying of a flag
- Swaying of a Balloon
- Windsock
- Friction experienced by a meteor while entering the earth’s atmosphere
Let us discuss examples of friction in detail. Friction can be categorized into dry friction, fluid friction, and air resistance.
30 Examples of dry friction in our daily lives:
Dry friction is the friction encountered between two solid objects. We encounter dry friction daily. It is impossible to live a Life without dry friction because of the Earth’s gravitational pull.
Examples of friction in our homes:
Lighting a matchstick: We strike a matchstick against a rough surface to create friction. The matchstick lights up due to the heating effect of friction. In the case of forest fires, the heating effect of friction becomes a necessary evil.
Brushing your teeth to remove particles: Sticky particles get stuck on our teeth and are very difficult to be removed. The brushing action allows us to overcome the frictional force of the particles and get them removed.
Mopping surfaces: Dirt and other small particles get deposited on the floor surfaces. It is very difficult sometimes to remove them by simple dusting. Mopping uses force along with water to overcome the friction shown by the dust particles.
Ironing a shirt: Friction enables you to apply pressure on the wrinkled surface in order to iron. Without friction, the iron box would just slide through. The pressure we apply is a factor affecting friction. Friction is directly proportional to pressure.
Writing on surfaces: It is a common examples of friction. When we write on surfaces such as paper, the friction between the pen and the paper surface causes a few particles to stick on the surface, allowing us to leave marks and write words. This is a very important application of friction that we use every day.
Working of an eraser: The force of rubbing an eraser overcomes the frictional force of the lead particles to remove them.Therefore Working of an eraser is example of friction.
Walking on an oily surface: The low friction offered by the oily surface will make you slip. This can be used as an application of friction while using oil as a lubricant to reduce friction in moving parts.
Holding onto objects: To hold onto any object like a bottle, glass, phone, or book you need friction. watch this funny video on life without friction to learn more.
Rubbing of hands to produce heat: Friction always has a heating effect associated with it. Rubbing of hands causes heat due to friction which can keep our hands warm for some time.
The belt holding your pants: The friction of the belt over your pant causes it to stay on your hips. Watch this funny video on life without friction to learn more
Hats/caps on your head: Your caps and hats automatically sit on your heads without any adhesive due to the force of friction. This is an ideal example of static friction.
Glasses on your nose: Your glasses stay on your nose due to static friction.
Ring on your finger: The ring stays on your finger by the action of friction. The size of the ring affects friction.
Flipping a page: Friction allows us to flip the page from corners. Without friction, the pages will slip through our hands. Flipping a page is example of friction.
Use of ball bearings: Ball bearings are used to reduce friction. It is an example of the application of rolling friction.
Examples of friction in outdoor settings:
Coming down a Kid’s slide: When we slide down a kid’s slide, there is sliding friction involved. This friction stops us from falling down immediately. Friction enables us to have that thrilling slide without any danger.
Nail fixed onto a wall: The friction between the nail and the wall holds it together in its place. To learn more read this post on friction as a necessary evil.
Walking on the hard ground: Friction enables you to walk firmly. It is very difficult to walk on marshy land or sand dunes. Such surfaces offer very little friction to walk.
Sandpaper grinding: Another example of friction is Sandpaper grinding. Rough surfaces and edges are polished using sandpaper to ensure smoothness. The rough and hard surface of the sandpaper breaks the irregularity in the surface thus reducing the roughness of the surface. This is a very common technique used to grind to reduce friction in wooden surfaces.
Cycling on the road: Friction enables you to start, stop, and turn a cycle. The friction makes sure that we do not skid off the road. The irregularities on the tires are an important factor affecting friction. They provide the cycle with the much-needed grip. On a surface where the coefficient of friction is less, this is an important factor affecting friction.
Brakes on motorcycles/cars: The brakes on a vehicle work on the principle of friction The friction between the brake pads and the wheel provides enough friction to stop the motion of the vehicle. You can read this post on the application of friction to learn more about disk brakes.
Gripping onto a baseball bat: A good grip is based on how much friction you get between your hands and the bat. The holding position and the roughness of the grip are two factors that affect friction here.
Tug of war: Two teams engage in a test of strength and strategy by pulling on opposite ends of a rope. This sport is a classic example of friction in action, as the force applied by each team generates a lot of friction between the players’ hands and the rope.
Wear and tear of the shoe: This is perfect friction as a necessary evil example. While friction enables you to walk the same friction can cause wear and tear to your shoes.
The ladder against a wall: The ladder against a wall is a very common application of friction in our daily lives. Without friction, the ladder will slide on the floor.
Pulley to draw water from the well: The friction between the rope and the pulley makes sure we are able to grip onto the bucket.
Friction welding: The heat produced during friction is used as an application of friction in welding.
Examples of friction in nature:
Gecko on a wall: The gecko lizard is able to climb onto surfaces vertically due to a very strong frictional force between its legs and the wall. It is said to use Van der Waal’s forces for creating such a large frictional force.
Climber plants: The climber variety of plants climb onto surfaces easily due to frictional force. Generally, they use rough surfaces to climb like the bark of trees, etc. Climber plants are good examples of friction.
Forest fires: Unwanted forest fires are a result of the friction caused while two trees rubbing each other. This friction causes a heating effect resulting in fires.
10 Examples of fluid friction:
Swimming in water: While swimming we encounter fluid friction. There are specific techniques like the angle of dive, hand movement, etc to reduce this friction. Fluid friction enables you to have a good workout.
Water flow in the river: The water flowing in a river experiences friction with the riverbed. The flow of water in the river is an example of friction.
Water flow through pipe systems: Fluid friction also affects water flow through pipe systems. Fluid friction is mostly on the surface of the water flow. This type of friction is studied separately as pipe friction.
The flow of ink in pens: The flow of any fluid across a surface faces fluid friction. The viscosity of the ink solutions is optimized for a good flow rate.
Lubrication: The fluid friction is generally less than sliding friction and this is used as an application of friction. The fluid acts as an interlayer between two sliding bodies to reduce friction. This concept of friction in machines with many moving parts.
Applying oil on door hinges: We apply oil onto door hinges to reduce friction and ensure smooth movement. The oil converts dry friction into fluid friction.
The slow movement of coral reefs: The mild movement of coral reefs that you see is due to fluid friction.
Flow sauce from bottles: You might have noticed that the sauce doesn’t directly fall from the bottle when inverted. Fluid friction reduces the speed of the flow.
Cleaning of the surface using fluids: Fluids are generally used to clean surfaces as they reduce the friction of the dust particles sticking onto surfaces.
Movement of ships/boats/fishes across the water: Fluid friction is experienced by all objects that move in water bodies. Fishes and ships have streamlined bodies to reduce friction. The design of an object is an important factor affecting friction.
10 Examples of air friction or air resistance:
Movement of aircraft: Aircraft experiences resistance due to contact with air. This is commonly called drag. The design of the aircraft is an important factor that affects friction with the air.
Air resistance on your hands: While traveling on a bike, you would have experienced the wind flowing on your body. This is air friction or air resistance.
Skydiver: A skydiver experiences a huge force of friction while in the air. A person has to be physically fit to try such stunts. Skydiving is a good example of friction.
Flying of birds/bats: Birds are naturally optimized to reduce friction. They are light and have a perfect body design to reduce friction.
Kite: Not all designs of kites fly. Kite-making is an art. Air resistance makes it possible for the kites to fly. Kite in the air is an example of friction.
Tress during a cyclone: In a cyclone, the wind blows at a very high speed. You can see the air resistance making the tress swing across.
Flying of a flag: A flag is able to move graciously in the wind due to air resistance.
Swaying of a Balloon: The balloon sways because of the resistance to air movement. Without air resistance, it would fall down immediately.
Windsock: A windsock is another example of friction that tells us the direction of airflow. It works on air resistance and is able to float in the direction of wind flow.
Friction experienced by a meteor while entering the earth’s atmosphere: The meteor or asteroid experiences a very high force of friction while entering the earth’s atmosphere and are burned before falling on Earth’s surface.
See also:
- What is a frictional force?
- Factors affecting friction
- Friction is a necessary evil
- What are the applications of friction in our daily lives?
- How can we increase friction? What are the ways of doing it?
- How can we decrease friction? What are the ways of doing it?
- Quiz on friction
- What is rolling friction?
- What is fluid friction?
- What is static friction?
