Lab report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Lab report - Essay Example ich is less than the static force needed to cause the block to move hence the value of Static friction coefficient is 0.04 while the value of Kinetic friction coefficient is 0.14. A hanging mass without any weight attached to the pulley shows no motion of the box. With gradual addition of weight on the hanging mass, the box begins to move hence overcoming static friction force. The force at which the box begins to move represents the static force since it is the force causing the box just to move. During motion, the frictional force attained helps maintain the box in motion as it also increases proportionally with increase in the hanging mass until the motion gains a constant rate. The static coefficient of friction is as a result of the required force to cause an object to start moving. As soon as the object starts to slide at a constant rate, coefficient of kinetic friction is then the required force to retain the object in motion (Matolyak and Ajawad 35-37). In this set up, the factor of gravitational force causing the object to just set motion is the same as the resistive force that keeps the object at rest. This is then the static friction force. Increase of the inclination angle decreases the gravitational force acting on the box. An inclination of 10 degrees overcomes the resistive force causing the box just to move and a further inclination of 9.2 degrees keeps the box in motion hence providing for the kinetic friction force. Actual coefficient of static friction of wood is 0.25-0.5 and coefficient of kinetic friction of wood is 0.2. Out of the three method used, method 2 was the most precise since coefficient of static friction 0.349 lies averagely within the actual range and its coefficient of kinetic friction 0.232 is closer to the actual range values. Sources of error in this experiment include: Logical error due to the swaying of the pulley hanging masses which causes the box to gain motion before reaching the actual kinetic friction. There is no