Question

What are the two factors that determine the strength of the force of friction between two sliding objects?

Answer 1

The two factors are the mass of the objects and the coefficient of friction between them. The angle between them is also very significant.

Explanation:

The friction force is defined as `F_f=muF_N` where `F_N` is the normal force (90 degrees to the surface supporting the object).

`F_N=mgCos(theta)` where m is the mass of the object, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and `theta` is the angle of any slope involved in the problem.

`mu` is the coefficient of friction between objects. `mu` can either be looked up in a table or calculated as `mu=F_f/F_N`