Physics Teacher Mr. Howard Helps Get Your Car Unstuck from the Snow
Written by Zehrah Ali
Photo by Greta Chabot
We have all encountered that situation where we will be cruising along in our vehicle during the winter time, wary of the snow, yet still cautious enough not to slip or slide on the road. Usually, this caution holds up pretty well — until we find ourselves stuck in a large mound of snow, with our wheels trapped and unmoving. The next step of action is usually to put our foot on the gas and hope that by moving the wheels, the car will move out of the snow. But unfortunately, anyone with experience in this situation would know this is not the case.
How come?
We consulted one of the Physics teachers here at East Ridge, Mr. Howard. He explains that the reason that the wheels in our cars only continue slipping on the snow instead of moving when we try to accelerate is the weak amount of friction.
“There’s two different types of friction,” he says. “There’s friction when things are sliding past each other, and then there’s friction when the two objects are not moving relative to each other.” These two types of friction are known as kinetic friction, which acts on sliding objects, and static friction, which acts on unmoving objects.
“Static friction is stronger than kinetic friction,” Mr. Howard goes on to say. “So if you are trying to get your car moving, you want to use static friction. As soon as your tires start spinning, then you are using kinetic friction — and that’s weaker.”
Kinetic friction goes into play the moment our tires start to slide against the snow, but static friction is what gets them to actually move out of the snow. “Let off the gas, and then slowly push the gas so that the tires are not slipping. Once they start slipping, you are getting less grip, and you have less friction.”
This method seems counterintuitive at first, since it would involve starting and stopping the gas every time your car begins to move, but Mr. Howard also recalls how just a day prior, he had gotten stuck in the snow and this method helped him. “I’m not kidding you, just yesterday, I was stuck — I backed up, and I laughed because the tires were just spinning and I’m like, ‘Calm down. Use static friction.’ And I did, and it got me out of it.”
He also reminisces a few times when he has tried helping other people stuck in the snow by teaching them a little about static and kinetic friction. However, he says, “I tried to kindly, gently tell them that it was better if they didn’t let the tires slip, and then they kept flooring the gas pedal — so I realized that now was probably not a good time to talk about physics, so I just kept pushing [their car]… Typically, physics lessons in the middle of stressful situations aren’t the best.”
