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Question
Hi Daniel
I have this project in which I need to know the coeffiecient of friction for snow with various different objects. (wood, metal..........) thanx for the help
Hi, Tabraiz,
I do not know them and I imagine it would be quite a tricky quantity to measure. I found some study of tire friction on different types of snow here: http://www.tc.gc.ca/TDC/publication/pdf/14400/14498e.pdf
You will find the values have so large error bars that any difference between wood, metal and other surfaces would be subject to specific conditions: Temperature, pressure, quality (fresh, old, loose, packed,...) of the snow, surface conditioning of the objects (roughness,polishing,freezing of snowflakes onto material's surface,...) and so on.
Sorry to bring bad news, but to find systematics in experiments with snow friction is a near miracle. Unless your life depends on it, I suggest you choose a more feasible project...
Take care,
Daniel
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Daniel Mazur
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Questions anyone (teenager, undergrad, graduate, professional) may ask on physics, mathematics or inorganic chemistry. Questions may concern subjects themselves or a possible future career in them, if you need advice on a school or hobby project, or you just came across a question that is beyond your current curriculum. I answer bare textbook problems sometimes, but I reserve the the right to redirect you to Physics-Physics section. The kind of questions I like to answer: I just started having science classes at school and they seem difficult, but I enjoy them. Where do I find more information on this, which is not in textbooks but still comprehensible to me? Just leaving high school, and I feel science is really the thing for me. Can you recommend a school and an undergrad program suitable to my inclinations? I am in my second undergraduate year in Physics. We learned the basics of universe expanding this year, the Hubble constant and all that, but invited speakers that gave talks on astrophysics in our department seemed not to agree with this model at all. Is it of any use at all? I am building a [materials research] experimental device for my masters/doctorate thesis and I have the following problem:... I have tried ..., but it still doesn't work. Where might the problem be?
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