The typical friction lab performed in introductory mechanics courses is usually not the favorite of either the student or the instructor. The measurements are not all that easy to make, and reproducibility is usually a troublesome issue. This paper describes the augmentation of such a friction lab with a study of the viscous drag on a magnet sliding down a conducting ramp, e.g., an aluminum ramp (Fig. 1). The measurements are simple and quite reproducible, and it appears to readily catch the interest of students.
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2016
American Association of Physics Teachers
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