A force is a push or a pull. For example, when you push open a door you must apply a force to the door. You also must apply a force to pull open a drawer. You cannot see a force but often you can see ...

Forgive me for all the posts on ESPN's Sport Science (example: Pulling and Power). I can't help myself. In the short episode recently, Sport Science compared a football player pulling a sled with huge ...

Friction is responsible for about twenty percent of the world energy consumption. The main reason for this is that frictional forces slow down the motion of surfaces in contact: think of the moving ...

Here’s the rub with friction — scientists don’t really know how it works. Although humans have been harnessing its power since rubbing two sticks together to build the first fire, the physics of ...

Get the essentials on static and kinetic friction forces! This video covers the key differences between these two types of friction, how to calculate them, and real-world examples to help you ...

Maybe I should just turn this blog into the post-Car-Talk discussion forum. In this week's episode of Car Talk, Tom and Ray talk to a lady that would like to turn her Subaru into a snow plow for her ...

This news release is available in German. For a car to accelerate there has to be friction between the tire and the surface of the road. The amount of friction generated depends on numerous factors, ...

The mechanics of friction may seem the stuff of high-school physics, but only now are some aspects of the problem being understood. A spinning coin is the subject of a new exploration of frictional ...

Perhaps few physical concepts have received less attention relative to their importance than friction. Learning the 'effective' notions of static and sliding friction, students of mechanics can easily ...

It’s a moonless night. The wind howls outside. A door opens slowly, as if pushed by an invisible hand. “Cre-e-e-a-k.” That sound — a horror movie cliché — is the result of friction. A stealthier ...

Machines on cell surfaces, mechanical and lifeless as bed springs, protect blood vessels by responding to blood flow force, according to research published today in the Journal of Cell Biology. By ...