Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How friction turns motion into heat
Sliding rubs organized motion down into the random jiggling we call heat.
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From the opening
Friction turns motion into heat because sliding surfaces catch at countless tiny contacts. The organized speed of the moving object becomes disordered jiggling of atoms, which is a rise in temperature. The opening covers from ordered sliding to jiggling atoms, why static friction barely heats, and rumford and the end of caloric.
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Inside
- From ordered sliding to jiggling atoms
- Why static friction barely heats
- Rumford and the end of caloric
- When slowing is not dissipation
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Kinetic friction and heating at contact asperities
- Rumford's cannon-boring argument against caloric