You might not realise it, but friction is a vital portion of your everyday life. You come across it everywhere you go, literally. Even when you are sitting down, standing up or walking, the force of friction has an effect on you. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages of friction, and that is exactly what we are going to talk about today. Find out for yourself why friction is good and bad at the same time.
What is friction?
Friction is the force that arises from the contact of two bodies and prevents their relative movement. The cause of friction is the roughness of rubbing surfaces and the interaction of the molecules of these surfaces. The frictional force depends on the material of the rubbing surfaces and on how intensely these surfaces are pressed against each other.
Friction comes in few different forms:
- Static friction describes the process between the resting object and a surface.
- Rolling friction appears between a rolling object and a surface.
- Fluid friction occurs when objects move through liquid or gas.
- Sliding friction comes into action when an object slides over a surface.
We can come across different uses of friction in our daily lives. But what are the advantages of friction? Let’s find out!
Advantages of friction
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Here are the 10 advantages of friction:
- Let’s get the most obvious detail out of the way first. Friction allows you to walk properly. Without friction, we would all just be sliding around with little to no control of direction, speed or destination. The whole world would be a giant ice rink, where everyone would be wearing silk socks instead of ice skates.
- The previous point takes us to the next advantage: we use friction to move even on incredibly slippery surfaces. If we choose the right material to go on the slick or glassy surface, we can make it more manageable. We can either make the surface itself more rough (e.g. sprinkle some sand on ice) or wear something with rough soles in order to increase friction between the two and make life easier.
- At the same time, friction can improve our driving experience. It allows us to have control of our vehicles, which means that we can drive and brake as long as there is friction.
- Friction keeps everything in place. As we have said before, friction also applies to static objects. If it wasn’t for friction, nothing would have been able to stand still.
- Here is a space fact for you: the friction that the atmosphere creates protects us from the many asteroids and meteors that would have otherwise ravaged our planet. When the space detritus enters Earth, the force of friction significantly slows it down or even completely disintegrates it.
- Friction can mitigate the adverse effects of wind. Rough terrain, buildings, trees and other things that get into wind’s way cause friction, thus lessening its negative effects.
- Have you ever heard of the saying ‘butterfingers’? This is when a person simply cannot stop dropping things, as if their fingers were covered in butter. Without force of friction, we would all have butterfingers. The reason most of us do not go around dropping objects is the friction between the rough surface of our fingers/gloves/etc. and the surface of the object we are holding.
- You might not realise it, but friction is the reason we can write on paper. Ballpoint pens work because the friction between the ball and the writing surface causes the ball to roll and release ink. Of course, in the digital times, it is not as important as it was just a few years ago, but people still handwrite things, believe it or not
- Friction makes welding possible, and without welding, we would not have a lot of very important things, like bridges, for example. The heat induced by friction makes the parts that need to be joined together more malleable.
- Last, but definitely not least, friction is the reason we have discovered how to create fire. Because some caveperson rubbed two sticks together, we can now enjoy the warmth of a campfire or a fireplace.
Disadvantages of friction
All good things come at a price, which is why we need to talk about the disadvantages of friction:
- As we have mentioned before, friction produces heat. However, it is not always a good thing. Most of the time, overheating of various machinery due to friction can slow it down or even make it malfunction.
- Even though the fact that friction slows things down can often save our lives, it can also seriously hamper everything. Because of friction, we move slower, cars move slower, everything slows down. It is the reason we have been struggling for so long to reach the required speed in order to go to space.
- Out of the previous two point stems the next disadvantage. Because friction produces heat and slows things down, there is a need to exert more power, which is not always possible or economically sound. Machinery has to be more powerful, thus consuming more power and resources.
- If you hate the sound of nails on the chalkboard or the noise some of your clothes make, you can blame friction for that. It also makes heavy machinery so loud you need protection in order to even be in the same vicinity as it.
- Friction causes the materials that come into contact with one another to wear out. Thus, you can notice your soles wearing thin after a few years of wearing your favourite shoes. The same way the eraser becomes smaller with each use.
- It is so much harder to move anything because of friction. Yes, obviously, we need friction for things to stay in place, but what if we want to move them? Friction is the reason it is so hard to move heavy objects, especially on rough surfaces.
- Extensive friction of rough materials on sensitive skin (or almost any type of skin, really) can cause discomfort or even injuries. You might notice that after you wear your favourite pants that are a few sizes too small.
And there you go, now you know about all the major advantages and disadvantages of friction. Have you ever thought about the application of friction before? Or do you usually ignore such trivial things? We hope we have opened your eyes and made you a little bit smarter
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Source: Zenithblog.com
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