Now I get to do something with that force scale I built. I had a request some time ago to talk about friction. Friction is surprisingly complicated. When two surfaces rub against each other, why is ...

I have a problem. I admit it. Isn't admitting you have a problem the first step to recovery? My problem is Angry Birds Space. I just can't stop trying to figure out how this stuff works. Oh, I am not ...

Without the force called friction, cars would skid off the roadway, humans couldn't stride down the sidewalk, and objects would tumble off your kitchen counter and onto the floor. Even so, how ...

Some forces are called contact forces because they require objects to touch. One is tension force, found in stretched wires. Another is the force found in a spring. And last are resistive forces: ...

Memory fault: friction study could provide new insights into why earthquakes happen. (Courtesy: iStock/allanswort) Experiments by Sam Dillavou and Shmuel Rubinstein at Harvard University have, for the ...

One approach to ultrahigh-density data storage involves the use of arrays of atomic force microscope probes to read and write data on a thin polymer film, but damage to the ultrasharp silicon probe ...

Forces are all around us – this month we’re going to explore the forces that relate to motion on wheels: pushing and pulling, and the effects of gravity and friction. By Julie Mountain and Felicity ...

It’s no wonder earthquakes are so difficult to predict. Even simple laboratory simulations of the friction breakdowns that send tectonic plates lurching into motion are maddeningly difficult to ...

This article has been updated to include comments from Raymond Goldstein and Patrick Warren. It is a mathematical puzzle that stumped Galileo, but researchers in France think they have discovered how ...