Rolling friction

Screen 8/10

1. READ/play the text
2. CLICK the picture (and video)
3. TRY this:

Q1: Why do we use wheels and not just drag things about?

[Answer]

The amount of friction when something rolls over a surface is far smaller than when it slides.

When you use rollers or wheels, you need less than a thousandth of the force you would need to drag the same object over the ground.

Logs can be used as simple rollers, but wheels are the most common and efficient rollers used today.