angle of friction

British

noun

physics the angle of a plane to the horizontal when a body placed on the plane will just start to slide. The tangent of the angle of friction is the coefficient of static friction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That is the angle of friction for iron or other metals.

From Project Gutenberg

In the case of quartzite mountains, the conical form is due to atmospheric influences acting on a rock of uniform composition, traversed by numerous joints and fissures crossing each other at obtuse angles, along which the rock breaks up and falls away, so that the sides are always covered by angular shingle forming slopes corresponding to the angle of friction of the rock in question.

From Project Gutenberg

Ice appears to possess more than one angle of friction according as a heavy or a light weight is used to press upon it.

From Project Gutenberg

You see that there is little or no difference in the angle of friction of brass on glass when we press the surfaces together with a heavy or with a light weight.

From Project Gutenberg

I can determine the coefficient of friction from the angle of friction by taking the tangent of the angle.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023