Measurement of the dynamic friction coefficient of slides

Abstract

This paper reports an example of an undergraduate student's study on friction on a slide, motivated by the question, "Why do heavier people slide faster on a slide?
We learn that the acceleration of falling in a uniform gravitational field is constant regardless of the mass, which is true even when dynamic friction is applied.
That question arises from the contradiction between this fact and living experiences.
We measured the acceleration of an object sliding and investigated the contribution of air resistance, the mass dependence of the dynamic friction coefficient, and the velocity dependence of the dynamic friction coefficient.
The results showed that the dynamic friction coefficient was not constant for the roller-type slide, while no significant deviation from a constant value was obtained for the metal plate-type slide.