CHAPTER IV
FRICTION
64.
Friction
Defined.
Friction is defined as the
resistance
which
one
body
offers to the motion of a second
body
when
the
second
body
slides or tends to slide over
the former.
The fric-
tional force is
tangent
to the surfaces of contact
of the two bodies
and
always
opposes
motion.
Friction is of
great
importance
in
engineering
practice.
Since
it
always
opposes
motion,
it
is an undesirable
and
expensive
factor
in
the
operation
of
many
machines or machine
elements,
and
in
such cases is reduced as much as
practicable
by
means
of lubricants.
In
other
machines it
becomes a
very
desirable and
useful
element,
as in various forms of
brakes,
friction
drives,
etc. In
fact, many
of our normal
physical
activities,
such as
walking,
would
be
impos-
sible without the aid of friction.
If
the resistance between
two
bodies
prevents
motion of one
body
relative to the
other,
the
resistance
is
called
static
friction,
while the frictional resistance be-
.
tween two
bodies which move
rela-
tive to each
other
is called kinetic
1
friction.
If the friction is
static,
the amount
of friction
developed
is
just
sufficient to maintain
equilib-
rium
with
the other
forces
acting
on the
body.
That
is,
static friction
\R
\|
is
an
adjustable
force
the
magni-
tude of which
is determined from
the
equations
of
equilibrium
for the forces
which
act on the
body.
Thus,
let
Fig.
151
represent
a
body
in
equilibrium
on
a
rough
horizontal
plane
under
the
action
of a
horizontal
force
P,
which
tends
to move the
body,
the
reaction, R,
of
the
plane,
and
the
weight, W,
of the
body.
Let the
reaction
R
be
resolved into
two
components
F and
N
parallel
and
perpendicular,
127