Ball bearings are used in machines mainly because they:
- A.Convert rolling friction into sliding friction
- B.Convert sliding friction into rolling friction
- C.Remove friction altogether
- D.Increase the normal reaction on the shaft
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, they convert sliding friction into rolling friction. A shaft turning directly inside a sleeve slides against it, and sliding friction is large; placing hard steel balls between the shaft and its housing makes the surfaces roll over one another instead, and rolling friction is a small fraction of sliding friction, so less energy is wasted and the parts wear more slowly. Option A states the change the wrong way round and would make the machine worse. Option C is impossible: friction can be reduced by bearings, lubricants, polishing and streamlining, but no arrangement of solid surfaces removes it completely. Option D is wrong because the normal reaction is fixed by the load the shaft carries, and increasing it would increase friction rather than reduce it, since limiting friction is proportional to the normal reaction.
Read the full article: Friction and Circular Motion: Laws, Formulas and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhen a force resists the relative motion between two surfaces, it is called _______
- A.Resistance
- B.Convection
- C.Friction
- D.Induction
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Friction is defined as the force that opposes the relative motion, or the tendency of relative motion, between two surfaces in contact; it acts along the surfaces and always against the direction of motion.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements about the coefficient of friction is correct?
- A.It is measured in newton
- B.It has no unit and no dimensions
- C.It is measured in newton per square metre
- D.It is measured in joule
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The coefficient of friction is the ratio of the limiting or kinetic frictional force to the normal reaction, and since both are forces the ratio is a pure number; the same reasoning applies to other ratios such as the refractive index and relative density.
Read the full explanation →For the same pair of surfaces, which of the following types of friction is the smallest?
- A.Static friction
- B.Limiting friction
- C.Sliding friction
- D.Rolling friction
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When a body rolls, the surfaces in contact change continuously and the irregularities have no time to interlock deeply, so rolling friction is very much smaller than sliding friction; this single fact is the reason the wheel was invented and the reason a ball bearing is fitted wherever a shaft…
Read the full explanation →In uniform circular motion, which of the following quantities remains constant?
- A.Velocity
- B.Speed
- C.Acceleration
- D.Linear momentum
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In uniform circular motion the body covers equal arcs in equal times, so its speed, a scalar, does not change; its kinetic energy and its angular velocity are constant too.
Read the full explanation →A body of mass 5 kg is rotating with angular velocity 10 rad/s in a circular path of radius 0.1 m. Determine the centrifugal force acting on the body.
- A.100 N
- B.50 N
- C.80 N
- D.60 N
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The centrifugal force has the same magnitude as the centripetal force, which for a body moving in a circle is the mass multiplied by the square of the angular velocity multiplied by the radius.
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