Sometimes you think you have a complete understanding of something and then BOOM—a simple problem throws everything out the window. Let's consider a very basic physics problem involving pushing a ...

Friction at the atomic scale appears to depend on the speed at which two surfaces move past each other. This surprising behaviour was observed as the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) moves ...

Howard Brody, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, serves up an answer to this question. Tennis can be played on almost any surface that can be made smooth enough to ...

Friction is an intrinsic physical phenomenon to curling. Without it, objects in motion would move endlessly, without slowing down. This would cause many safety-related problems: Cars or trains could ...

Is friction real? Once, with the quiet certainty of someone who just stayed up all night in the company of equations describing concrete, my college roommate told me that friction was made up. Now, ...

In manufacturing, not all losses are loud. Some happen quietly, every second, in the background. Friction is one of them. Each time two parts move, whether turning, sliding or rolling, energy is lost.