Friction is a complex phenomenon that is of paramount importance in everyday life. We present an easy-to-build and inexpensive experiment illustrating Coulomb's law of kinetic friction. The so-called friction, or Timoshenko, oscillator consists of a plate set into periodic motion through the competition between gravity and friction on its rotating supports. The period of such an oscillator gives a measurement of the coefficient of kinetic friction μk between the plate and the supports. Our prototype is mainly composed of a motor, LEGO blocks, and a low-cost microcontroller, but despite its simplicity, the results obtained are in good agreement with values of μk found in the literature (enhanced online).
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March 2018
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March 01 2018
A study of kinetic friction: The Timoshenko oscillator
Robin Henaff;
Robin Henaff
a)
Magistère de Physique Fondamentale, Département de Physique, Univ.
Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Gabriel Le Doudic;
Gabriel Le Doudic
a)
Magistère de Physique Fondamentale, Département de Physique, Univ.
Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Bertrand Pilette;
Bertrand Pilette
Magistère de Physique Fondamentale, Département de Physique, Univ.
Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Catherine Even;
Catherine Even
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université
Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Jean-Marie Fischbach;
Jean-Marie Fischbach
Magistère de Physique Fondamentale, Département de Physique, Université
Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Frédéric Bouquet;
Frédéric Bouquet
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université
Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Julien Bobroff;
Julien Bobroff
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université
Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Miguel Monteverde;
Miguel Monteverde
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université
Paris-Saclay
, 91405 Orsay, France
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Claire A. Marrache-Kikuchi
Claire A. Marrache-Kikuchi
b)
CSNSM, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay
,
91405 Orsay, France
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a)
R. Henaff and G. Le Doudic contributed equally to this work.
b)
Electronic mail: claire.marrache@u-psud.fr
Am. J. Phys. 86, 174–179 (2018)
Article history
Received:
April 27 2017
Accepted:
October 10 2017
Citation
Robin Henaff, Gabriel Le Doudic, Bertrand Pilette, Catherine Even, Jean-Marie Fischbach, Frédéric Bouquet, Julien Bobroff, Miguel Monteverde, Claire A. Marrache-Kikuchi; A study of kinetic friction: The Timoshenko oscillator. Am. J. Phys. 1 March 2018; 86 (3): 174–179. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5008862
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