Rolling cylinder and static friction: model and experiments

Abstract

Abstract We present an experiment in which we measure the static friction force necessary for a cylinder to roll without slipping on a horizontal surface. Additionally, we introduce an alternative formulation of the rolling condition, based on the observation that the ratio between angular and linear momentum of an object rolling without slipping is independent of particulars of its motion. Since the same holds also for their rates of change, from the basic laws of dynamics, we derive a natural relation between forces and torques allowing for a physical interpretation of the dynamic behavior of the cylinder as well as determination of the value of the static friction force.