Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces by Laurie Winkless
A lot of effort is spent to make things stick or not stick. However, stickiness is not a defined scientific term. It is also not well understood. Geckos are an interesting example from the animal kingdom. They use a complex system to stick to just about any surface. In the lab, there are different means of stickiness, with chemical and physical processes.
On the other end, there are also areas where we want to reduce friction. We want airplanes to glide through the air with minimal wind resistance. Swimmers want to minimize the resistance when they swim through the water. Full body were a rage. However, it turns out much of the help was due to controlling muscles and helping to improve buoyancy.
Many applications need to balance uses of friction. We need friction for areas that need it (such as gripping tires to road and braking), but minimize it where we don't want it (such as air resistance). Friction is often reduced to a single coefficient, but it is much more complex than that.
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