Administrators Tom Wetmore Posted June 1, 2007 Administrators Share Posted June 1, 2007 That was a question I had when I was doing a bit of reading on accident reconstruction. There are basic formula for determining speed based on tire skid marks, but I wasn't able to find anything that suggested the degree of variation of friction coefficient for metal vs. rubber. The variable that is built into some simple skid calculator formula distinguish wet and dry pavement and degree of incline. So my assumption when I did the calculation was that motorcycle sliding on its side, metal on pavement, would be close to the same frictional coefficient as tires skidding on pavement, at least close enough for a rough speed calculation. While one would think that sheet metal parts would have less friction than rubber, some of the metal parts are ridged and angular digging into and gouging the pavement which would result in much higher friction. On balance I think the difference would be insufficient to skew the results significantly. Tom Quote "Absurdity reigns and confusion makes it look good." "Sinless perfection is such a shallow goal." "I love God only as much as the person I love the least." *Forgiveness is always good news. And that is the gospel truth. (And finally, the ideas expressed above are solely my person views and not that of any organization with which I am associated.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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