Friction

This has now been shortlisted in a competition I entered. The awards are in London in April so I will let you know how I do. You can read about the competition here:
http://www.planet-scicast.com/view_clip.cfm?cit_id=2706

How to hold two books together using only friction. Performed with the kind permission of the Institute of Physics newspaper, Interactions.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Friction
• physics
• demonstraition
• science
• scicast
• cool

[freddymontvlinks]

Hey does the mass of the book itself matter to

[FizzyMcPhysics]

@freddymontvlinks Does the mass matter to what? Or do you mean matter too?

Lots of things will change how hard or easy the books are to separate; How far the pages over lap, the number of pages between over laps, the number of pages in the book and the roughness of the pages. I did try the experiment using a colour text book that had glossy pages and it didn't work at all.

[FizzyMcPhysics]

@freddymontvlinks As for mass; the number of pages in the book will make a difference because you will have more surface area to use for drag. Also a book's mass can depend on the density of the paper. This will change the mass of the individual pages which should change the frictional force. So in answer to your question (at last =) ) Yes I think the mass of the book will affect the difficulty of separation. I expect that number and quality of pages will have more affect than page density.

[hennafied]

Brilliant, my 9 year old daughter used this video to help her understand the result of friction..she's going to use the trick in school. Thanks

[FizzyMcPhysics]

@hennafied That's brilliant! =D I'm so glad!

[carvingmadness]

that is pretty cool. I appreciate you expanding your knowledge beyond reading of that magazine that I probably never would have read on the topic of friction. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. will look for more insight you have to share

[toohighbrowforyou]

Neat!!! I want a go XXX

[matafuko]

i had a go at it just now in the office and now my hands hurt slightly...

[DVincentW]

Wow cool stuff.

No wonder books dont co-mingle.

[ZombieWagon]

I was surprised at how hard it was to, well, not get anywhere in pulling those books apart. A neat little trick that I'd never heard of prior.