Sticky

Physicist Laurie Winkless presents an original, eye-opening review of how surface stickiness or slipperiness affect your every waking moment. Winkless’s examples include swimming, skating, driving and your socks. Winkless revels in the relevance and application of an arcane science, tribology. Winkless occasionally offers more detail than you might want, but her revelations will surprise, delight and enlighten you.

Stickiness and Slipperiness

Scientists who study friction are tribologists. Friction generates grip when increased and glide when reduced. In 2000 BC, Egyptian logisticians experimented to find the precise amount of water to add to sand to reduce the friction of moving massive stone monuments across the desert.