If I let air out of my tires to increase surface area on sand; wont that just reduce the pressure on the sand too? Is traction NOT a function of both pressure and surface area? Physics
In: Physics
If you have a block that has a square base of 2 cm by 2 cm that is 10 inches tall you can either have it stand up on the 2 by 2 base or the 10 by 2 side. The side has much more surface area but less mass on top of each individual point, while the 2 by 2 has less surface area but much more pressure. Changing the surface area on an object (but leaving the mass the same) generally doesn’t affect friction, although I’m not sure how sand would affect this. This probably doesn’t answer your whole question but hopefully it’s good enough!
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