2015/06/17 by Galen T. Pickett, Pickett, Galen T.
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #physics.pop-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1507.04015
arxiv created 2015/06/17 · openalex publication_date 2015/06/17 · arxiv updated 2015/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
While dry Coulombic friction is an elementary topic in any standard introductory course in mechanics, the critical distinction between the kinetic and static friction forces is something that is both hard to teach and to learn. In this paper, I describe a geometric model of static friction that may help introductory students to both understand and apply the Coulomb static friction approximation.