Internal Friction in Ionic Single Crystals

Pages:307-309
Karan Singh Gill (Department of Physics, N.M. Govt. P.G. College, Hansi, Hisar, Haryana)

Friction is one of the most fascinating and yet elusive phenomena in physics. Everyday life cannot be imagined in the absence of friction. It allows us to walk, to climb stairs, to sit in a chair, to stop a car, to handle tools. In technological applications friction is the evil of all motion and huge amounts of money are spent annually on energetic and mechanical losses due to friction and wear. Friction is also responsible for natural disasters like earthquakes, landslides and avalanches. Along the centuries mankind has tried to understand and control friction but in spite of the huge volume of experimental knowledge with remarkable technical applications, very little is known about the fundamental, elementary processes taking place on the atomic level at the interface between sliding surfaces.