Benefits of Friction
Friction is essentially the resistance force responsible for preventing or slowing down motion. It is required in several applications for averting sliding or slipping. In those instances, these are benefits of friction. Read on to discover what advantages friction has to offer.
1. Writing
Writing using a pencil or pen requires friction. You cannot hold a pen or any other writing material without friction. Furthermore, the pencil led cannot make any marks on the paper if friction is absent. Not only is friction necessary for writing, but it is also required for rubbing off any errors using an eraser. The friction caused by the eraser wears out the marks written using the pencil.
2. Allows walking
Without friction it would not be possible to walk. Actually, the friction present between the ground and the shoes allow for easy movement. As you walk, friction helps to hold your foot to the floor and this prevents you from falling down. That is why it is very difficult to walk on areas with little friction such as ice.
3. Better driving
A car cannot move if there is no friction of its tires and the street. Without friction, the tires would simply spin. Similarly it is impossible to stop a car without friction between the brakes as well as the tires. Friction is thereby vital for driving and ensuring that accidents do not happen by providing traction.
4. Increases comfort
The other friction advantage is that it assists in increasing comfort. For instances, rubber sheets that have soft under surfaces are normally placed on top of mattresses. The friction present between the mattress and the soft undersurfaces prevents the wrinkling of the rubber sheets.
The shortcoming of friction is that it not only makes movement hard, but it also lessens the productivity of engines through causing wear in parts that rub against each other.
