Balwyn High School 1

Sample EPI Report

EXTENDED PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION: STATIC FRICTION

AIM

An investigation will be conducted into measuring the maximum static frictional force of different grades of
sand paper. A relationship between the roughness of the sandpaper and the maximum static frictional force
will be established.

HYPOTHESIS

The static friction between a wooden block and various sand papers will depend on the roughness of the sand
paper. A very rough and coarse sand paper with a low grit number will have a higher maximum static friction
than the fine and smooth sand papers with high grit numbers.

This will occur because smooth surfaces have less friction than rough surfaces. The surfaces of rougher objects
are more turbulent and provide structures which latch onto complementary structures on the other object.
This interaction requires more force to cause the object to slide and hence results in greater frictional forces.

EQUIPMENT

 Sand paper of grit values 30, 50, 100, 180, 320, and 500
 Block of wood
 Ramp
 Protractor
 Electronic scales
 2 thumb tacks

METHOD

1. Set up experiment as shown in Figure 3.

Side view Front view

ramp
ramp
Wood block

Thumb
Support Sand tacks
protractor paper
Sand paper
attached to
floor ramp

Figure 1 - Equipment set up

 Balwyn High School 2
Sample EPI Report

2. Thumb tack a test sheet of sand paper to the board. Place block on sand paper.
3. Slowly increase angle of ramp until wood block slides off sand paper. Record the maximum angle for
which block was stationary.
4. Repeat step 2-3 for a total of three trials for this sand paper.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for sand paper with grit values 30, 50, 100, 180, 320, and 500

RESULTS

MEASUREMENTS OF WOODEN BLOCK

Table 1 - measurement of wooden block
Measurement Result
Dimensions ( Length × width × height ) 32cm × 16cm × 12cm
Mass 3.64 kg

MAXIMUM ANGLE AND CALCULATED AVERAGE MAXIMUM FRICTION

Table 2 - table of maximum angles and calculated maximum friction
Maximum angle of ramp
Sand paper grit Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average Calculated friction (N)
result
30 32° 26° 34° 31° 18.2
50 38° 38° 40° 39° 22.3
100 41° 38° 45° 41° 23.6
180 45° 41° 45° 44° 24.6
320 40° 39° 37° 39° 22.3
500 27° 30° 26° 28° 16.6

See Appendix 1: sample calculations for calculation methods.

 Balwyn High School 3
Sample EPI Report

Maximum friction of sandpaper

30.0

25.0
Maximum fricdtion (N)

20.0

15.0
maximum friction
quadratic trendline
10.0

5.0

0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Sand paper grit value

Figure 2 - graph of maximum friction versus grit value

DISCUSSION

THE RESULTS

The experimental results shown in Table 2 - table of maximum angles and calculated maximum friction and
graphically represented in Figure 2 indicate that the roughness of sand paper and maximum static friction does
2
follow a relationship. A polynomial (degree = 2, R =0.83) trend line has been included in Figure 2 to draw
attention to the nature of the data and the clear indication of a maximum friction value from the experimental
data.

While it was hypothesized that the friction would decrease from a highest value for the coarsest sand paper
the results indicate the decreasing in maximum static friction occurs from a grit value of approximately 200.

To explain why the highly coarse (low grit number) sand paper had smaller friction it is necessary to consider
the contact made between the wooden block and the sand paper. As shown in Figure 5 it is possible that
highly coarse sand paper makes very little contact with the wooden block and so cannot ‘grip’ the block as well
as a finer sand paper.

Increasing the surface area in contact between the two objects increases the area over which the frictional
forces can be applied. However, increasing surface area of the particles often involves decreasing the size of
the particles themselves. As the size of the particles decreases, so does the variation in surface structure – very
high grit paper would approximately approach a flat surface. While the coefficient of friction is dimensionless,
it may be possible to define a new coefficient which is area dependent. Investigating this variable by
considering the density and size of sand particles on different graded paper may provide a greater insight into
other factors which affect the frictional force which can be exerted.
 Balwyn High School 4
Sample EPI Report

Wooden block

180 grit sand paper 50 grit sand paper

Figure 3 - close look at sand paper contact

ERRORS AND IMPROVEMENTS

The measurement of angle was made using a 10 cm school protractor. Measuring the angle of the large ramp
using this small measuring device was inherently error prone. A reading error due to the large increments on
the scale is one source of error. Parallax errors are also inherent due to the size of the object on which the
angle is being measured. To improve the accuracy of the calculated angle, measurements of ramp length and
height could be used in conjunction with trigonometric ratios.

Other sources of error in this investigation include;

 Pressing the wooden block down onto the sandpaper. The wood is soft and can be indented to match
the grooves of the sand paper, which could falsely increase the maximum friction for that trial.
 Identifying the maximum angle involved a team member slowly increasing the height of one end of
the ramp and stopping as soon as the wooden block started moving. A method less prone to sudden
movements, for instance using a winch system, would reduce the likelihood of a sudden increase in
angle causing the initial movement of the block.

CONCLUSION

While this investigation has shown that there is a relationship between the grade of sand paper and the
maximum static friction it was not the monotonically decreasing relationship hypothesized at the beginning of
the investigation. Instead it has been found that the friction caused by the sand paper has a maximum value at
approximately grit value of 200. A finer sand paper had less friction due to the smoothness of the paper, and a
coarser sand paper also had less friction, possibly due to less contact area between the test surfaces.

APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE CALCULATIONS

Sand paper grit Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average Calculated friction (N)
result
30 32° 26° 34° 31° 18.2

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