II. SOME SUGGESTIONS

For some people—for instance, for some engineers— friction is a very practical matter; I do not presume to tell these people how to do their work. As for general students of physics, it would appear that the textbook examples and conundrums about friction are unphysical. It is suggested that nothing of value would be lost by dropping this topic, and merely letting it be noted what everyone knows: that there is such a thing as friction.

It would seem especially untrue to life when the students dutifully put into the conundrums such-and-such coefficients of friction, which they have been given. For surely such things are poorly known (certainly not to two significant figures!); moreover, they are poorly reproducible, depending on the state of wear, cleanliness or otherwise, etc. of the surfaces.