coefficient of friction

British  

noun

1. mechanical engineering the force required to move two sliding surfaces over each other, divided by the force holding them together. It is reduced once the motion has started

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coefficient of friction Scientific  

1. A measure of the amount of resistance that a surface exerts on or substances moving over it, equal to the ratio between the maximal frictional force that the surface exerts and the force pushing the object toward the surface. The coefficient of friction is not always the same for objects that are motionless and objects that are in motion; motionless objects often experience more friction than moving ones, requiring more force to put them in motion than to sustain them in motion.

2. ◆ The static coefficient of friction is the coefficient of friction that applies to objects that are motionless.

3. ◆ The kinetic or sliding coefficient of friction is the coefficient of friction that applies to objects that are in motion.

4. See also drag friction

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Example Sentences

The result, says Gilchrist, is cohesion that generates a negative angle of repose due to a negative coefficient of friction.

From Science Daily • Sep. 20, 2023

Find her final speed at the top, given that the coefficient of friction between her skis and the snow is 0.0800.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

For our dry lakebed track in South Africa, we're expecting a coefficient of friction of about 0.2 - about the same as driving on ice and snow.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2015

Testing various materials for the glove by simulating a thrown football in a lab allows the manufacturer to raise the glove’s coefficient of friction as high as possible.

From New York Times • Nov. 24, 2014

If the coefficient of friction does vary with the intensity of pressure, the problem of determining the driving power of a belt on strictly mathematical principles will indeed be complicated.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua