The Versatile Tilting-Plane Method of Measuring Coefficients of Friction Between Various Contacts.

This article explores the significance of friction in mechanics textbooks and the various techniques used to measure coefficients of friction. It specifically focuses on the tilting-plane method, which is commonly employed in classroom teaching to measure the static friction coefficient. Additionally, the article introduces an enhanced version of the tilting-plane method that can measure static friction, kinetic friction, and rolling resistance coefficients in a single test. The setup for this method is simple to construct and suitable for classroom experiments. The article provides comprehensive instructions on how to set up and conduct this method. Furthermore, the text discusses a method for measuring friction coefficients between different surfaces using an experiment involving a metal coin and an inclined plane. By measuring the coin's acceleration as it rolls down the plane at various angles and analyzing the data through graphing, the coefficients of static friction (µs), kinetic friction (µk), and rolling resistance (CR) can be determined. This method can be applied to other objects like spheres, cylinders, or rings, and can aid students in comprehending the characteristics of friction and how to measure friction coefficients. [Extracted from the article]