coefficient of friction

British  

noun

1. mechanical engineering the force required to move two sliding surfaces over each other, divided by the force holding them together. It is reduced once the motion has started

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coefficient of friction Scientific  

1. A measure of the amount of resistance that a surface exerts on or substances moving over it, equal to the ratio between the maximal frictional force that the surface exerts and the force pushing the object toward the surface. The coefficient of friction is not always the same for objects that are motionless and objects that are in motion; motionless objects often experience more friction than moving ones, requiring more force to put them in motion than to sustain them in motion.

2. ◆ The static coefficient of friction is the coefficient of friction that applies to objects that are motionless.

3. ◆ The kinetic or sliding coefficient of friction is the coefficient of friction that applies to objects that are in motion.

4. See also drag friction

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coefficient of friction

The result, says Gilchrist, is cohesion that generates a negative angle of repose due to a negative coefficient of friction.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023

Of course, maximum grip on the desert is low, with a coefficient of friction of about 0.2, based on previous experience.

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2018

A minimum coefficient of friction is needed, or the car will move in a larger-radius curve and leave the roadway.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Testing various materials for the glove by simulating a thrown football in a lab allows the manufacturer to raise the glove’s coefficient of friction as high as possible.

From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2014

The coefficient of friction is that quantity which, being multiplied by the total pressure acting normally to the surfaces in contact, will give the measure of the maximum frictional resistance to motion.

From Friction, Lubrication and the Lubricants in Horology by Lewis, William T.