Question

You spill a bucket of soapy water on a marble floor accidentally. Would it make it easier or more difficult for you to walk on the floor? Why?

Answer 1

Hint: The frictional force is the most primary force that helps humans walk on the ground. When we walk, we push the ground back with our feet, and because of friction, the ground pushes us forward and we move forward.

Complete step by step answer:
The friction basically means a resistance or obstruction offered to the application of a force against another surface(it basically attempts to decrease or stop the relative motion between two surfaces).
Mathematically, the frictional force is directly proportional to the normal reaction provided by the surface for the body.

Maximum Frictional force $Fs \propto N$
By removing the sign of proportionality and introducing a constant, we have: $Fs = \mu N$
Where µ is called as coefficient of friction.
We see that, the frictional force which pushes us forward depends on:
- the object, which is represented by normal force, N.
- the nature of interaction between surface and the object, represented by coefficient of friction.
The coefficient of friction values for the marble floor is very lesser compared to normal granite or vitrified flooring and on top of that, pouring soapy water, decreases the coefficient of friction of the floor to a very trivial and small number.
Thus, a very low value of coefficient of friction means that frictional force is almost zero and that is the reason why it is very difficult to walk on the floor as the frictional force will not aid us in walking.

Note: There are two kinds of coefficient of friction – Static and dynamic. Look at the problem carefully and understand the kind of motion that is in the question. Unless otherwise stated, coefficient of friction, simply means coefficient of static friction. The value of coefficient of static friction is always higher than coefficient of dynamic friction.