Sunday 7 August 2016

What are the disadvantages and advantages of friction?

There are countless ways that friction can have disadvantages and advantages in different situations. I will provide a few examples that will hopefully lead to more ideas for you.


A main disadvantage of friction is that it causes energy in a system to be converted to heat or sound energy, making that system less efficient. A good example is an internal combustion engine used in cars. In an engine there are dozens of moving metal...

There are countless ways that friction can have disadvantages and advantages in different situations. I will provide a few examples that will hopefully lead to more ideas for you.


A main disadvantage of friction is that it causes energy in a system to be converted to heat or sound energy, making that system less efficient. A good example is an internal combustion engine used in cars. In an engine there are dozens of moving metal parts, and in places where they are touching they will experience a large amount of friction which will generate a large amount of heat that can damage the parts. This is why we use engine oil to lubricate the parts and reduce the amount of friction. If an engine has a large amount of friction, some of the mechanical energy that we want to use to move the car is transferred to heat energy, making the engine less efficient and negatively affecting gas milage.


Keeping with the car example, an advantage of friction is that it does in fact make the car move. Friction between the tires and the road allows the tires to 'grip' the road and causes the car to move forward. Without this friction, tires would just spin and the car wouldn't go anywhere. We also rely on friction to help our car stop. The more friction there is between our tires and the road, the shorter our stopping distance will be, which is usually a good thing when it comes to avoiding accidents. 


These are just a few examples of how friction has disadvantages and advantages. 

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