Quote:
Sy Labthavikul wrote:
Sorry to sidetrack, but this misconception is one of my pet-peeves. Frictional forces are completely independent of surface areas between two objects. While smaller surface area between two objects would reduce the source of frictional forces, it also INCREASES the pressure between the two objects for a given force holding them together. Since pressure equals force divided by the area of contact, it works out that the decrease in friction generating area is EXACTLY offset by the increase in pressure; the resulting frictional forces, then, are dependent only on the frictional coefficient of the materials and the FORCE holding them together.
Back to your normally scheduled program.
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Also fits in with one my pet peeves
Let's put the weight of the refrigerator on top of a series of spindles supported by a series of different rotating swivels, supported by drawn wires with different counter supporting chains of force, and have then have the weight be far more fluid and controlled to respond to different vectors of force. Then lets have that mechanism control react differently everytime.
Write back when you have the math exact enough that you can defend it like a dissertation.
My favorite story is of playing with two structural engineers; one of whom is a nationally recognized expert who has been brought in to resolve various troubled projects, including our own big dig and air port sublimation issues.
I let him and his associate push me, pull me, and what not and they said...that's impossible! Once I explained it and even had them do some things a little bit they went off on each other cracking up on how difficult it would be to have to try an model that.
I have the sneaking suspicion that this is like a job site. Those doing the engineering...cannot do the actual work!
Cheers
Dan