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You have pushed toy cars before: a hard push sends them far. Leo pushes his car across the thick carpet in his bedroom, and it stops after a little way.
What slowed Leo's car down?
Friction & Surfaces
Compare how things move on different surfaces, noticing that some surfaces create more friction than others
What a learner can do afterwards
- Observe and compare how the same object moves on at least three different surfaces
- Describe that rough surfaces slow objects down more than smooth surfaces
- Use the word 'friction' to explain why movement differs on different surfaces
1 · Read
You already know that pushes and pulls make things move. Friction is a force too, but it works the other way. It happens when two surfaces rub together, and it slows movement down or stops it. Every surface makes some friction, but some surfaces make a lot more than others.
Try it together
Leo pushes his toy car across the thick bedroom carpet. It rolls a little way and stops. Then he pushes it just as hard across the smooth wood floor. This time it rolls much farther. The rough carpet grips the wheels and makes a lot of friction. The smooth wood makes less friction, so the car keeps rolling.
Look closely at a surface to guess how much friction it makes. Rough surfaces, like carpet, sand, gravel or sandpaper, have lots of tiny bumps that catch and slow things down. Smooth surfaces, like polished wood, tile, glass or ice, have far fewer bumps, so things slide across them more easily.
Rough surfaces make more friction and slow things down; smooth surfaces make less friction and let things move farther.
Rewritten readings were written for this dataset. Reading 'Grip and slide: animals and friction' is original to this dataset.
2 · Watch
3 · Play
Take it off screen
Print a worksheetA4 with an answer key page for grown-ups. No screen, no internet.
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
Then practise
23 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.