SCIENCE FRICTION

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the role of friction phenomena in the history of human civilization. In an educational context, a variety of physical effects, innumerable technical devices and processes, and even some amazing toys – friction-reducing or friction-based - provide excellent topics for discussion with students learning physics. Accordingly, the current paper presents a series of class demonstrations and hands-on activities for high school and university students, with the particular intent that these topics can become introductory research studies. The proposed activities and experiments on sliding and rolling friction, triboelectricity, estimating the friction coefficient, and the unexpected (and frictionally explained) behavior of spinning tops, were found to stimulate students without exception, and certain students even became involved in co-authoring the current presentation. In particular, the proposed activities gave students an understanding of the physical nature of real-life phenomena, while appealing to their everyday experience and cultural background. The didactic aspects and educational impact of “science frictional” investigations are presented and analyzed.