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Static and kinetic friction example

Explore how different kinds of friction impact acceleration with the example of a block of wood on some dirt. Determine the acceleration of the block when pushed with a force of 100 N, taking into account the coefficients of static and kinetic friction. Created by Sal Khan.

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  • blobby green style avatar for user christina.markar
    In this video, you show the static and kinetic coefficient. I'm having trouble figuring out how to find those. Have I somehow missed a video that shows you how to find them?
    (23 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user kelseynirmal
    Sal says he calls it the "budging force".... what is it generally called?
    (21 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user David Warren
    How does the duration of the force being applied affect the acceleration? Also, why isn't the duration of the application of force normally supplied in Physics videos? It just occurred to me that it might be rather important. I assume that the duration time would have to be measured only to a certain extent. Can you help me with this?
    (12 votes)
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  • purple pi purple style avatar for user Jake Bellis
    If the force is only applied once and not constantly, does the static friction affect the object's acceleration throughout its entire motion?
    (7 votes)
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  • piceratops seed style avatar for user Murali
    when we ride a nail into a wooden chunk and upturn it it doesnt fall down. though we know it is the friction bw the nail and thye chunk where does the normal reaction force act to produce that much friction.
    (6 votes)
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    • leaf green style avatar for user Mark Zwald
      When the nail goes in the wood, the volume of the nail displaces wood causing compressive stress. That compressive stress squeezes on the nail from all sides and that results in the friction force between the two. The bigger the nail, the greater the compression and thus more friction.
      (7 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user Rupal R. Shah
    Could someone please explain what the budging force is? How can I understand this in practical terms? And how is it different from the normal force?
    (6 votes)
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    • leafers ultimate style avatar for user Boris Stanchev
      Budging force is the force needed to get the block to overcome static friction and start moving as described at around . Friction while you're moving (kinetic friction) is different from friction that you need to overcome so you can start moving (static friction). In practical terms, if you were on a sled, in order to start sliding, you may need a push from behind so you could overcome the static friction between the sled and the snow.

      Don't confuse any of this with normal force. Normal force is an opposing force to gravity exerted in the upward direction by the ground. It's from Newton's 3rd law, which in simple terms says "every action has an equal and opposite reaction." The normal force is also always at a right angle. In fact, in physics and math we often the word "normal" to describe anything that's at a right angle with something else. So if you see the word "normal" in a physics problem, it's referring to something that's perpendicular to something else.
      (5 votes)
  • hopper jumping style avatar for user Lunch Box Yogurt
    Could someone give me some examples of static friction? I'm still a little bit confused about about it.
    Thanks!
    (2 votes)
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    • leaf green style avatar for user Mark Zwald
      Static friction is the force of friction on an object that is not moving. If you push on a stationary block and it doesn't move, it is being held by static friction which is equal and opposite to your push. Once your push exceeds the maximum possible static friction (budging force = μN), then the block will start moving. The moving block will then experience kinetic friction which is smaller than the static friction.
      (11 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user Farhan Naufal
    At , the larger the normal force the larger force to cause the body to move and the larger force of friction. But isn't it also means that the larger the normal force, the smaller the coefficient of friction because Normal force is inversely proportional (Fb/Fn= μ) and the smaller coefficient of friction means harder to move?
    (3 votes)
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  • old spice man green style avatar for user Elijah Daniels
    What's the difference between Static Friction and Kinetic Friction?
    (4 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user Samaia Traforti
    I am curious, in a previous video it was explained that acceleration is not a force. Why does a have an arrow hat on top of it, if it is not a force?
    (2 votes)
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Video transcript

So I have got this block of wood here that has a mass of 5 kilograms and it is sitting on some dirt and we are near the surface of the earth and the coefficient of static friction between this type of wood and this type of dirt is 0.60 and the coefficient of kinetic friction between this type of wood and this type of dirt is 0.55 This was measured by someone else long ago or you found it in some type of a book someplace And let's say we push on this side of the block with a force of a 100 N What is going to happen? So the first thing you might realize is if there is no friction if this was a completely frictionless boundary and there is no air resistance, we are assuming that there is no air resistance in this example That in this dimension, in the horizontal dimension there would only be one force here, this 100 N force It would be completely unbalanced and that would be the net force and so you would have a force going in that direction of a 100 N on a mass of 5 kilograms Force = Mass times acceleration acceleration and force are vector quantities So you would have the force divided by the mass would give you 20 meters per second of acceleration in the rightward direction That is if there were no friction but there is friction in this situation So let's think about how we'll deal with it So the coefficient of friction tells us So this right here is the ratio between the magnitude of the force that I have called the budging force The amount of force you need to apply to get this thing to budge to get this thing to start moving. So we can start using the coefficient of kinetic friction It's the ratio between that and the magnitude of the force of contact between this block and the floor or ground here And the magnitude of that force of contact is the same thing as the normal force that the ground is applying on the block the magnitude of the normal force the ground is applying on the block Then once its moving then we can say that this is going to be--this will then be equal to this over here will be equal to the force of friction So this is the force that really overcome friction and this over here will be equal to the force of friction The magnitude of the force of friction over the force of contact the contact force between those two, so over the normal force and it makes sense that the larger the contact force the more that these are being pressed together the little at the atomic level, they kind of really get into each others grooves the more budging force you would need or the more friction force would go against your motion And in either situation the force of friction is going against your motion So even if you push it in that way sounds like force of friction is all of a sudden going to help you So let's think about what the necessary force will we need to overcome the force of friction right here in the static situation So the force of gravity on this block is going to be the gravitational field which is 9.8 m/s^2 times 5 kilograms 9.8 m/s times 5 kilograms gives 49 kilogram meters per second or 49 newtons down This is the force, the magnitude of the force due to gravity the direction is straight down towards the center of the earth The normal force, and that force is there because this block is not accelerating downwards So there must be some force that completely balances off the force of gravity And in this example, it is the normal force So it is acting 49 newtons upward and so these net out. And that's why this block does not accelerate upwards or downwards So what we have is the budge the magnitude of the budging force, needs to be equal to, over the magnitude of the normal force well this thing right over here is going to be 49 newtons Is equal to 0.60 Or we could say that the magnitude of the budging force is equal to 49 newtons times the coefficient of static fiction Or that's 49 newtons times 0.60 And remember coefficient of friction are unitless So the units here are still going to be in newtons So this 49 times .6 gives us 29.4 newtons This is equal to 29.4 newtons So that's the force that's started to overcome static friction which we are applying more than enough of so with a 100 newtons, we would just start to budge it and right when we are in just in that moment where that thing is just starting to move the net force-- so we have a 100 newtons going in that direction and the force of static friction is going to go in this direction-- maybe I could draw it down here to show it's coming from right over here The force of static friction is going to be 29.4 newtons that way and so right when I am just starting to budge this just when that little movement-- because once I do that, then all of a sudden it's moving and then kinetic friction starts to matter, but just for that moment just for that moment I'll have a net force of 100 - 29.4 to the right, so I have a net force of 70.6 N for just a moment while I budge it So just exactly while I'm budging it While we're overcoming the static friction, we have a 70.6 N net force in the right direction And so just for that moment, you divide it by 5 kg mass So just for that moment, it will be accelerating at 14.12 m/s^2 So you'll have an acceleration of 14.1 m/s^2 to the right but that will just be for that absolute moment, because once I budge it all of a sudden the block will start to be moving And once it's moving, the coefficient of kinetic friction starts to matter We've got the things out of their little grooves and so they're kind of gliding past each other on the top, although there still is resistant So once we budge it, we'll have that acceleration for just a moment Now all of a sudden, the coefficient of kinetic friction comes to play And the force of friction, assuming we're moving the magnitude of the force of friction will always go against our movement is going to be--remember, our normal force is 49 N So we can multiply both sides of this times 49 We get 49 N times 0.55 which is equal to 26.95 N This is the force of friction; this is the magnitude and it's going to go against our motions So as soon as we start to move in that direction, the force of friction is going to be going in that direction So once we start moving, assuming that I'm continuing to apply this 100 newtons of force what is the net force? So I have 100 N going that way and I have 26.95 going that way Remember, with vectors, I don't have to draw them here I can draw all of their tails start at the center of mass of the object. I can draw them whatever, but remember this is acting on the object If we want to be precise, we can show it on the center of mass because we can view all of these atoms as one collective object But anyway, what is the net force now? We have 100 N to the right; we have 26.95 to the left 100 minus 26.95 100 N that I'm applying to the right - 26.95 N which is the force of friction to the left always acting against us means that there's a net force to the right of 73.05 So once we're moving, we have a net force to the right of 73.05 N This is the net force and it's acting to the right Right after we budge it, how quickly will this accelerate? Well, 73.05 divided by the mass, divided by 5 kg, gives us 14.61 So the acceleration once we're moving is going to be 14.61 m/s squared to the right So I really want to make sure you understand what's happening here We always have enough force to start budging it but right when we budged it we overcome the static friction for just a moment our acceleration was slower because we're overcoming that static friction but once we budged it and once it's moving and assuming that we're continuing to apply a constant force over here then all of a sudden, the force of friction since we're kind of bump it along the top now and not stuck in their grooves we're now using the coefficient of kinetic friction And so once it's moving, the net force becomes greater in the rightward direction because you can kind of view that force of friction will become less once it starts moving And so now the force of friction went down a little bit to 26.95 N And so now we're accelerating to right at a slightly faster rate 14.61 m/s^2 So right when you budge it, it accelerates at 14.1 m/s^2 but just for a moment, almost unnoticeable moment once it starts moving Then you're going to be going to the right with this constant acceleration