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Finding Micro Kinetic Friction

This document proposes a method to determine the kinetic friction of a mechanism with limited movement, such as a bathroom sink plug assembly. It observes that as water fills a container above the plug assembly, the plug slips down at regular intervals as the water weight exceeds the static friction. It attempts to explain this phenomenon using equations that balance the water weight, spring restoring force, and static/kinetic frictions. The method would be challenging to implement as the plug displacement during each slip is very small and fast, making it difficult to accurately measure without specialized equipment.

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42 views

Finding Micro Kinetic Friction

This document proposes a method to determine the kinetic friction of a mechanism with limited movement, such as a bathroom sink plug assembly. It observes that as water fills a container above the plug assembly, the plug slips down at regular intervals as the water weight exceeds the static friction. It attempts to explain this phenomenon using equations that balance the water weight, spring restoring force, and static/kinetic frictions. The method would be challenging to implement as the plug displacement during each slip is very small and fast, making it difficult to accurately measure without specialized equipment.

Uploaded by

JAWWAD
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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An exploration into a probable method of determining the kinetic friction of a mechanism

with limited movement.

Observation: A container is filled with water, over a bathroom-sink plug assembly. The plug assembly
has a spring mechanism similar to that of a clicking pen, allowing it to plug or allow water flow out of the
sink on alternate “clicks”. The plug is set to the open position. As the container is filled at a reasonably
constant rate, the container pushes the plug downwards at very regular intervals, a small distance at a
time. So regular in fact, that I can quite confidently predict the next slippage!
This sends me down the rabbit hole of thought and I think I have retrieved something quite interesting:

Bathroom sink

Container
Water
in Plug assembly with spring

An attempt to explain the phenomenon: Initially, the spring is compressed inside the assembly and
produces an upward with a restoring force (r0), which is balanced by the latch mechanism of the plug.
As the container fills, at one point, the weight of the water (W) equals the restoring force of the spring
(R): [r0=w0].
As it continues to fill, the weight of the water, in excess to the spring’s initial restoring force(δw), is now
balanced by the static friction of the plug assembly (fr s); [frs=δw]. The values for both δw and frs increase
steadily, with more water pouring in.
Finally, the “excess weight” of the water equals the maximum static friction: [fr s-MAX= δw], after which,
the tiniest nudge gets the system moving and static friction (fr s) is replaced by maximum Kinetic friction
(frK-max).
But [frK-max < frs-max].
Therefore, an unbalanced force of [frs-max- frK-max] acts on the system; until the restoring force of the
spring increases by an amount, equal to the difference between the maximum static and kinetic
frictions: [R=r0+ δr], and [δr=frs-max- frK-max]; the system comes to a halt. But the static friction that acts
on the system is now equal to the maximum kinetic friction, as the rest of the balancing force comes
from the spring: [w0+ δw =r0+ δr +frs(=k-max)] OR [δw= δr+frs(=k-max)]
Now δw=vt, where v is the flow-rate in kg/s and t is the average time period of slippage, in seconds;
also, [frs-MAX= δw], as stated above. And δr= k*δx/n, where k is the spring constant, δx is the total
distance moved and n is the number of slippages.
Note1: The very first slippage should be ignored, to allow for the balancing of r0.
Note2: The method for finding δr, marked in red, would be quite challenging, especially when the time
period of vibratory progress is in the order of milliseconds, making the distance travelled in each
slippage too small to be measured accurately without laser distance-meters…. Important assumption:
The friction does not transition from kinetic to static before the system comes to a complete halt.

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