All Questions
11
questions
12
votes
4
answers
4k
views
How does a snake climb the wall?
Consider a snake climbing up the wall or ant climbing up the wall, which force is responsible for it?
An obvious answer is frictional force but my question is that if there is a normal reaction ...
- 151
0
votes
1
answer
54
views
If friction and normal force are both the components of contact force, shouldn't the friction be repulsive?
Is friction due to intermolecular attractive forces or repulsive ones.
Since both friction and normal force are the components of contact forces, shouldn't friction be repulsive.
2
votes
0
answers
36
views
Why does cold icing slide off a warm cake?
As in the title: why does cold icing slide off a warm cake?
I've been told that it's because a thin layer at the bottom of the mass of icing interacting with the surface of the cake melts to some ...
- 121
0
votes
1
answer
37
views
Why I require more force to slide covered notebooks over each other with water between them although water work as lubricant?
We have learnt when floor is wet we get slip as it reduce friction and work as an lubricant.
But yesterday I take 2 notebooks which are covered by transparent sheet , than I pour little water on one ...
0
votes
2
answers
380
views
Stiction, friction and sticking
If we have two flat surfaces touching each other and apply a force parallel to the surfaces, one may move relative to the other.
An example would be a polymer block gliding on another.
Dependent on ...
- 3,901
0
votes
1
answer
52
views
Energy dissipation and work of adherence force
Assume you are pushing a heavy item. But it's not moving. So there is no work, and there should also be no dissipation of energy $P=F v=0$, since the forces don't work. But we see that it does demand ...
- 482
6
votes
0
answers
849
views
When does water decrease or increase friction?
Water often acts as a lubricant e.g. a wet floor or road, but sometimes the reverse happens e.g. putting on wet clothes. I understand that surface tension is involved e.g. microscope slides sticking ...
- 1,879
0
votes
1
answer
382
views
Why is it easier to catch mosquitoes with your hand when your hand is wet?
Recently I've noticed that it's significantly easier for me to catch a mosquito with my hand if my hand is very wet (e.g. from having washed my hands and not yet dried them, or from being in the ...
- 101
2
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Adhesion vs Static Friction
I feel like this question should have a simple answer, but I haven't been able to find one anywhere. I hope someone can help:
In short, my question is why the force of static friction is so much ...
- 3,075
3
votes
0
answers
2k
views
Can iron filings on a magnet be removed using a stronger magnet?
After some experiments, I had some NdFeB permanent magnets "contaminated" with iron filings, sticking to it's poles surfaces/edges - you may have seen that before.
There are some working ways to ...
- 3,901
2
votes
1
answer
413
views
Is it possible to eliminate Van der Waals interactions?
I came to know that the friction force actually depends on the surface contact area due to weak interactions (adhesion due to Van der Waals forces) between the atoms of both materials increasing in ...
- 133