We experience friction every day. It is impossible to imagine a life without friction. Without we would not be able to walk, stop, create fire, and do other daily activities. In this article, we look at the 8 most common applications of friction in our daily lives.
Applications of friction
- Friction helps us to walk
- We can write on paper or on boards using a pencil or chalk
- The friction between the meteor and the atmosphere heats it up and makes it burn and shrink in size due to air resistance
- We can fix a nail to the wall
- Brakes in vehicles are built on the concept of friction
- Pulleys for drawing water from wells work with the help of friction.
- A ladder against a wall
- Friction is used for making fire by rubbing wood on wood or stone on stone.
Recommended reading: 50 examples of friction in our daily lives.
Friction enables us to walk/run
The friction between the sole of the shoes and the ground helps us to move forward when we walk. Our legs provide a backward force and in response, the force of friction propels us in the forward direction. The more friction, the better the walking experience. That is why running shoes always have strong grips and sometimes even spikes on them.
Friction enables us to write on surfaces
The friction between the pencil/chalk and the surface(paper/board) rips off a few molecules of pencil lead or chalk and it sticks to the board/paper due to friction.
Friction reduced the impact of a meteor hitting Earth
The friction between the earth’s atmosphere and meteor heats it up and causes it to burn, thus reducing its size just before hitting the earth which drastically reduces the impact.
Friction enables us to fix a nail to the wall
The friction between the nail and the wall creates the grip to hold the nail in place. Without friction, a nail fixed on a wall will fall down. We won’t get the grip to fix the nail without friction.
Disk Brakes stop a moving vehicle using friction
Disk brakes work on the concept of friction. What happens is, the moment you apply the brakes, the brake pad is made to rub against the rotor(or disk) of the wheels using a hydraulic system. As a result, friction is created between the brake pad and the disk which slowly stops the motion of the wheel.
Friction between the brake pad and the disk will result in a lot of heat generation. To overcome this problem, holes are designed in the brake pads for faster heat dissipation. Friction is a necessary evil.
Drawing water from well-using Pulleys
The friction between the rope and the pulley allows us to control the rotation of the wheel. In the absence of friction, the rope would have slipped making it difficult to control.
A ladder against a wall
Image by Paul Harrison from Pixabay
The force of friction stops the ladder from slipping. The ladder since it is at an angle with the ground tries to slip but the force of friction provides an opposite force hence stopping it from slipping.
Friction enables us to make fire
Image by Thomas B. from Pixabay
Why does striking a matchstick against a surface ignite it? A match stick is made of a wooden stick coated with a material at the tip that can be ignited by friction. Long ago people used to strike two stones together to initiate fire, it was also the trick of friction.
Other applications of friction
Other applications of friction include friction stir welding, different stopping mechanisms, heat generation, etc.
See Also:
- What is a frictional force?
- Factors affecting friction
- 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?
- 50 Examples of friction in our daily lives
- Friction is a necessary evil examples
