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 ...

Really, this is the experiment I wanted to start on. How does friction work in Bad Piggies? Let me start with a quick summary of my experiments so far. Scale. For the size of stuff in Bad Piggies, I ...

I learned to respect friction, as a phenomenon with many nuances, when I was a graduate student. One day, while teaching a problem session in elementary mechanics, I unwisely invented a new problem to ...

In this video, we break down the concept of the coefficient of friction in AP Physics 1, explaining how static and kinetic friction work and how they affect motion. Clear examples and reasoning help ...

Friction is an intrinsic physical phenomenon to curling. Without it, objects in motion would move endlessly, without slowing down. This would cause many safety-related problems: Cars or trains could ...

In this video, we explain the capstan equation and how friction affects a rope or string wrapped around a surface. You’ll learn where the equation comes from, what each term means, and how it’s ...

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 ...

Physicists in the US have made a peculiar discovery about how a small object slides over a rapidly rotating lubricated disk. They have found that if the object is tilted so that it only touches the ...

Today is the first day of second grade for SteelyKid, and yesterday I took her and her brother, The Pip, to the outdoor pool for an end-of-summer swim. While loading them into the car on the way home, ...