Help settle an argument please

[Dogbreath]

As NicktheNorse said F=mu*N, the area of rubber in contact with the road plays no part in that equation.

And as I replied that applies only to 'ideal' surfaces, tyres and tarmac not conforming to this simplistic linear behaviour.

 

[[huzeeee]]

F1 have big wide tyres to help them go round corners fast, wide tyres do not help in a straight line at all.
Look at Thrust 2 the wheels were only 6 inches wide on that and it did mach 1, but it would never go round a corner at any speed.

Thrust was a jet car, no drive was put through the wheels they wanted minimum friction for maximum speed, and infact that answers your question wider wheels give more friction as racing bikes, thrust, and dragsters front wheels are all skinny to reduce friction and go faster. I recon it gives more grip up to a point as well, there must be an optimum width to give good presure on the road with enough contact for the tyre to cope with the power.

 

[Kappa]

google?

Why doesn't friction depend on surface area?

Asked by: Elizabeth Stewart

Answer

Although a larger area of contact between two surfaces would create a larger source of frictional forces, it also reduces the pressure between the two surfaces for a given force holding them together. Since pressure equals force divided by the area of contact, it works out that the increase in friction generating area is exactly offset by the reduction in pressure; the resulting frictional forces, then, are dependent only on the frictional coefficient of the materials and the FORCE holding them together.

If you were to increase the force as you increased the area to keep PRESSURE the same, then increasing the area WOULD increase the frictional force between the two surfaces.

Answered by: Paul Walorski, B.A. Physics, Part-time Physics Instructor


makes sense.