Charging from friction. Flexoelectricity and tribology may explain how. Credit: Laurence Marks/Northwestern University The electric shock you get from shuffling along a carpet might be the first ...

Delving into history books, we can learn that already thousands of years ago the Egyptians realized that lubricants like water and oil helped reduce the friction of sledges that moved the heavy stones ...

(Nanowerk News) If you even bother to think about friction at all, you might think about rubbing your hands together to warm them up. But friction is a big problem out in the world. Parts that rub ...

The problem exists on both a large and a small scale, and it even bothered the ancient Egyptians. However, although physicists have long had a good understanding of friction in things like stone ...