Sometimes you think you have a complete understanding of something and then BOOM—a simple problem throws everything out the window. Let's consider a very basic physics problem involving pushing a ...

Friction is an intrinsic physical phenomenon to curling. Without it, objects in motion would move endlessly, without slowing down. This would cause many safety-related problems: Cars or trains could ...

Researchers at the University of Konstanz have uncovered a new mechanism of sliding friction: resistance to motion that ...

Quick, out behind the bike shed, Professors Pendry and Leonhardt are having a fight over a completely hypothetical situation. If we hurry, we should catch the end of round three. Science: it is ...

Researchers have uncovered friction without contact—driven entirely by magnetic interactions. As two magnetic layers slide, ...

Here’s the rub with friction — scientists don’t really know how it works. Although humans have been harnessing its power since rubbing two sticks together to build the first fire, the physics of ...

Atomic friction: tiny effect may never be measured. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Dmitriy Rybin) An excited atom decaying in a vacuum experiences a force very similar to friction, according to calculations ...

The mechanics of friction may seem the stuff of high-school physics, but only now are some aspects of the problem being understood. A spinning coin is the subject of a new exploration of frictional ...