Friction Coefficients

Determining the Coefficient of Friction Introduction: This lab was meant to discover the most elementary and accurate way to determine kinetic and static friction between two surfaces. In our case, the two surfaces were a pine board and a polished aluminum ramp. We used gravity at a 45o angle and a stopwatch to determine the kinetic friction, and the angle of a ramp at which the board would start to slide for the static friction; …

…back of the lab. Conclusion: The results we calculated seem to be fairly accurate but still do have a huge source of error calculated into them. That error would be human error; if we were to do the same type of test with a more sophisticated timing system, our results would have been more accurate. Differing by thousandths our coefficients do seem plausible so we feel that we have succeeded in acquiring the desired results.