OT: Amusing Google conversion of the week

Then why is it expressed as a fraction of the free body normal (mathematical sense) force?

Could be. But i don't care enough to get out my physics books again.

a fraction of a force is still a force,

(also it's not always expressed like that)

It isn't. That's the COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION, which indicates the ratio of the limit of friction to the normal force.

If you have two surfaces in contact, their coefficient of friction is 0.5, and you apply a normal force of 10N, the limit of friction is

5N. In the absence of any tangential force, the actual friction is zero.

If you apply a tangential force of e.g. 3N (less than the limit), the friction will be -3N (i.e. 3N in the opposite direction), the net tangential force will be zero, and the object will remain stationary.

If you apply e.g. 7N (more than the limit), the actual friction will be -5N, the net tangential force will be 2N, and the object will accelerate.

"Friction" is a force, yes, but not the Coeffecient of Friction, which is "The force of friction over the normal force", and so is unitless.

Hope This Helps! Rich

What's 2.435 light-years per mile^3 of gas?

-- Paul Hovnanian mailto: snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com

------------------------------------------------------------------ It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. -- Gore Vidal

2.435 light-years per cubic mile (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 5.52672307 kilometers per liter 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in kilometres per litre (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 5.52672307 kilometers per litre 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in metres per cubic metre (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 5 526 723.07 meters per (cubic meter) 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in miles per gallon (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 12.9996586 miles per gallon 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in miles per US gallon (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 12.9996586 miles per US gallon 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in miles per imperial gallon (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 15.6119455 miles per Imperial gallon 2.435 light-years per cubic mile in leagues per cubic furlong (2.43500 light-years) per (cubic mile) = 8.09808184 × 10^9 leagues per (cubic furlong)

It could do with an "... in SI" option to save having to type out specific units.

It wouldn't hurt to qualify "gallon". Although most of the people who ask for "gallons" will want the US version, much of the remainder don't know (or won't remember) that there *is* a US version and thus that it doesn't mean what they think it means.

And is defaulting to "liter" for volume supposed to be an equal-annoyance policy? Americans will probably want either US gallons/quarts/pints or cubic feet/inches, while the rest of the world would prefer it spelled correctly.