Friction at the nanoscale has revealed a wealth of behaviours that depart strongly from the long-standing macroscopic laws of Amontons–Coulomb 1,2. Here, by using a ‘Christmas cracker’-type of system ...

From the early tribological studies of Leonardo da Vinci to Amontons’ law, friction has been shown to increase with increasing normal load. This trend continues to hold at the nanoscale, where ...

1.1 What is friction? Take this everyday example: when a coffee mug rests on a flat table, the kinetic frictional force is zero. There is no force trying to move the mug across the table, so there is ...

Irregularities present on a surface are often described as surface roughness or texture. These surface textures such as grooves and dimples impart friction, which is the force between two sliding ...

Friction is an intrinsic physical phenomenon to curling. Without it, objects in motion would move endlessly, without slowing down. This would cause many safety-related problems: Cars or trains could ...