Kinetic Friction Lab Report

The purpose of this lab report is to state the results gathered by the values of the coefficients of kinetic friction and the coefficient of static friction for two particular surfaces. The theory behind it is that if a body is at rest or moving with constant velocity, it is in equilibrium and the vector sum of all the forces acting on it is zero. The force of friction is always opposing the motion and is always opposite in direction. This lab gave us a chance to bring the inclined plane problems we have been doing in class to real life.

The materials used in this lab were an inclined plane, a block of wood, a set of weights, pulley, weight hanger, and a computer. In the first part of the lab, my group and I placed the plane in a horizontal position and the block on the plane and put the attached string over the pulley along with the hooked weights. We adjusted the pulley so that the string would be parallel with the plane. Then, we added weights until the force was sufficient to get the block moving. We repeated this procedure four times adding 100 grams every time. After each time, we plotted the graph on the computer. In the second part of the lab, we used the inclined plane to elevate it to the extent where the block would slide without any external force on it. We repeated this process while recording the angle of the plane and elevating the plane higher and higher. We used this data to determine the coefficient of static friction.

We were trying to measure the coefficient of friction using inclined planes. Our results had a lot of errors because the wood was somewhat smooth, and the surface of the plane was not straight. This sometimes caused friction in one part of the experiment while none in the other. Our root source of error is that we did not repeat each experiment for better results. We did not have any difficulty with this