Here is the abstract of the science fair project that I conducted this year.
Abstract
This experiment is to determine if interlocking surfaces, specifically carpet and tank tread, follow the same rules of friction as regular, smooth surfaces, including that friction is not a function of area. The variables of weight and area were independent, and the friction force was the dependent variable. It was hypothesized that the friction would be a function of and vary directly with area. It was concluded that although the experimental design did not allow for completely accurate data, a trend in the results still showed that friction is an inverse function of area. When the surface area went down the friction increased, which could be caused by increased pressure. The pressure could have had more of an effect on friction force than the number of interlocking pieces in the tread.
Discussion of the experiment is included in the attached Word document and the data and results are included in the attached Excel spreadsheet in the next post.
Results & Discussion can be found in the white papers:
Discussion
Data/Results