Sometimes you think you have a complete understanding of something and then BOOM—a simple problem throws everything out the window. Let's consider a very basic physics problem involving pushing a ...

This video guides you through the process of calculating the acceleration of a block sliding down an inclined plane with ...

Learn how to find the coefficient of friction for a block sliding on an incline! This video walks you through the essential ...

Liquid assets: how to make coins flow like a fluid Friction in one part of a system can be reduced by boosting friction elsewhere. That is the curious and counterintuitive conclusion of Yasinul Karim ...

Whether in vehicle transmissions, hip replacements, or tiny sensors for triggering airbags: The respective components must slide against each other with minimum friction to prevent loss of energy and ...

Memory fault: friction study could provide new insights into why earthquakes happen. (Courtesy: iStock/allanswort) Experiments by Sam Dillavou and Shmuel Rubinstein at Harvard University have, for the ...

Quick, out behind the bike shed, Professors Pendry and Leonhardt are having a fight over a completely hypothetical situation. If we hurry, we should catch the end of round three. Science: it is ...

Is friction real? Once, with the quiet certainty of someone who just stayed up all night in the company of equations describing concrete, my college roommate told me that friction was made up. Now, ...

MIT scientists have coaxed atoms into an exotic “edge state” for the first time, allowing them to flow completely friction-free. The breakthrough could lead to better superconductor materials. As ...

A model system has been presented by researchers that allows the investigation of atomic-scale friction effects and friction dynamics that are similar to those taking place, for instance, in proteins, ...

I don't know very much about bobsleds—but I know quite a bit about physics. Here is my very brief summary of the bobsled event in the winter Olympics. Some humans get in a sled. The sled goes down an ...