Friction vs Speed

  Exploring Friction

How does friction effect the speed of a toy car?

The City School arranged a science fair. Children from the entire region enthusiastically participated in this project. 

The main goal of this activity was to develop students' scientific knowledge and skills so they could apply them to problems in real life.

Exploring Friction and Speed was the subject chosen by my students from Class 5C.

How is the speed of car affected by the force and friction?

The investigation's main issue was resolved, and we got to work solving it together.

Hypothesis

A hypothesis was developed that towel will have the most friction and hence the speed of the toy car will be least on the towel surface.

After developing the hypothesis, we intended to execute the test to validate and assess it.

Students worked in a group to plan and execute the experiment to record the values and observe which surface offers the best friction.

Materials Required

• A wedged surface
• Towel
• Aluminium Foil
• Bubble Wrap
• Carpet
• Tape
• Toy Car
• Stop Watch

A stop watch watch was used and a toy car was placed on the surfaces one by one. Time taken by the car to complete the distance for each surface was recorded in a table.

Procedure: 

We prepared the surface board by covering with 4 different materials. All the sections of the wedged board were equally divided. Same adhesive material was used to paste the material on the surface.

Toy cars were take. All had the same starting point. One group member recorded the time and the remaining members checked the friction offered by surface.

First the friction on Bubble wrap was tested. The distance was constant i.e. 0.39m and the time taken by the toy car to cover the distance was 3 seconds. Using the formula the speed of toy car was calculated.

Speed = distance / Time

Speed = 0.39/3 = 0.13seconds

Then the friction on Carpeted Surface was tested. The distance was constant i.e. 0.39m and the time taken by the toy car to cover the distance was 1 seconds. Using the formula the speed of toy car was calculated.

Speed = distance / Time

Speed = 0.39/1 = 0.39 seconds

After that the friction on Toweled Surface was tested. The distance was constant i.e. 0.39m and the time taken by the toy car to cover the distance was 2 seconds. Using the formula the speed of toy car was calculated.

Speed = distance / Time

Speed = 0.39/2 = 0.195 seconds

In the end  the friction on Aluminum foil was tested. The distance was constant i.e. 0.39m and the time taken by the toy car to cover the distance was 0.2 seconds. Using the formula the speed of toy car was calculated.

Speed = distance / Time

Speed = 0.39/0.2 = 1.95 seconds

Data Collected

Keeping the distance covered constant for all surfaces.

Distance = 0.39 meter

Material Used	Time Taken (sec)	Speed (m/sec)
Bubble wrap	3	0.13
Carpet	1	0.39
Aluminum Foil	0.2	1.95

Towel

2

0.195

Result:

Considering the table above it was evident that the most textured surface had the taken the maximum time to reach the end point. Hence Bubble Wrap had the greatest friction

Conclusion:

This proved that my hypothesis was not correct.

The speed of the toy car on the bubble wrap was the least as compared to speed of the same toy car on other surfaces. Hence the force of friction was the most on the bubble wrap making it the most resistible material from all the selected materials.

Applications of Friction:

Since it keeps automobile tyres from skidding on the road and keeps our shoes from slipping when we walk, friction can be a valuable factor. Walking causes friction between the tread of your shoes and the ground. This friction holds onto the surface and keeps things from sliding.