Driving question

What if there were no friction?

Explore what happens when two surfaces rub together and create friction.

Exploring the question

Jennifer lives in a world that would seem very strange to us. Everything is very slippery, like ice. All of the surfaces have very little friction. Friction is the name given to the force that makes something slow down and stop when it is sliding across another surface.

Jennifer is used to her world with very little friction, but we would have trouble.
Name two surfaces (besides ice) that are very, very slippery!
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List the features that you think make a surface slippery. You can use a drawing to help show the features.
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DRAWING BOX

Albert lives in a world that is just the opposite. Everything is very sticky. All of the surfaces have a large amount of friction.

Name two surfaces that have a lot of friction.
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List the features that you think make a surface have friction. You can use a drawing to help show the features.

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DRAWING BOX

3. Explain why you couldn't light matches in a world with no friction.
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Sports and Leisure 2448.jpg (image/jpeg)

Are we using the names "Jennifer" and "Albert" or are we going to match the names to the names in the story? We say, "Friction is the name given to the force that makes something slow down when it is sliding across another surface."  Do we want to include that friction is the force that makes something slow down (and stop)? Posted by cmcintyre at Aug 14, 2007 10:32

Jennifer and Albert are the names in the story. I added "and stop". Ed Posted by ehazzard at Aug 16, 2007 13:11