Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Preparation and Friction Force Microscopy Measurements of Immiscible, Opposing Polymer Brushes
Published on: December 24, 2014
Effect of fractal disorder on static friction in the Tomlinson model
Jon Alm Eriksen1, Soumyajyoti Biswas, Bikas K Chakrabarti
1Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. jon.alm.eriksen@gmail.com
Abstract:
We propose a modified version of the Tomlinson model for static friction between two chains of beads. We introduce disorder in terms of vacancies in the chain, and distribute the remaining beads in a scale invariant way. For this we utilize a generalized random Cantor set. We relate the static friction force to the overlap distribution of the chains, and discuss how the distribution of the static friction force depends on the distribution of the remaining beads. For the random Cantor set we find a scaled distribution which is independent on the generation of the set.
Related Concept Videos
Static Friction
For example, consider a scenario where a truck is connected to a car by a rope, ready to tow it along a road. When no external force is applied by the truck, the car remains stationary and is said to be in static equilibrium. In this case, the forces acting on the car, such as gravity and the...
Frictional Force
Static and Kinetic Frictional Force
However, if two systems are in contact and are stationary relative to one...
Friction: Problem Solving
Initially, a visual representation of the...
Types of Friction Problems
The first type of dry friction problem involves situations where there is no apparent impending motion.
Kinetic Friction

