| Department Colloquium |
Wednesday
Oct. 26, 2005
Science Center 170
2:00—3:00 p.m.
Lunch: 12:00 in
Buntrock Commons #221
Phone: 507-646-3120
email: russell@stolaf.edu
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"Studying Friction at the Atomic Scale"
Brian Borovsky
Physics Department
St. Olaf College
What causes the force of friction? What determines how
large or small it is? Today there is a growing interdisciplinary effort to answer
these questions. Ultimately, researchers would like to predict the coefficient
of sliding friction for any pair of surfaces using only fundamental properties
of atoms. This level of predictive power has been extremely hard to achieve.
The challenges are both experimental and theoretical. It is difficult to probe
deep inside a sliding interface or to develop theories capable of integrating
microscopic and macroscopic processes.
Over the last two decades, however, atomic-level studies of
friction have revealed many fundamental aspects of friction and lubrication.
The work continues here at St. Olaf College! In the Friction and Surfaces
Research Group, we combine an indentation probe with a vibrating quartz crystal
to form an apparatus capable of studying lubricant films just one molecule
thick at sliding speeds much faster than obtainable with traditional
techniques. This research is motivated by both fundamental interest and
applications: Understanding how the molecular structure of ultrathin films influences
their frictional properties may be essential for the success of a new
generation of microscopic machines fabricated from silicon.
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