Investigation of kinetic friction using an iPhone

The iPhone is particularly suitable for mechanics experiments using the in-built acceleration sensor or accelerometer in-conjunction with the on-board data collection facility and a downloadable so-called 'app'. In this work the iPhone has been used to investigate the acceleration due to gravity and determine the coefficient of kinetic friction, μ k of the iPhone as an object sliding down an inclined plane. This method is more accurate than that usually employed in the laboratory where the 'fits and starts' of the block sliding down the inclined plane potentially invalidate the required assumption that the velocity is constant. In its simplest form the measurement of acceleration is required to be undertaken for only 2 angles.