Leonardo Da Vinci was wrong about friction: Earthquake study
10 July 2014 6:48 AM IST
In a breakthrough, scientists have discovered that fracture and friction are closely interrelated, a finding that may help describe the mechanics that drive earthquakes.
The study overturns a 500-year-old theory given by Leonardo da Vinci. He described how rough blocks slide over one another, providing the basis for our understanding of friction to this day. The phenomenon of fracture was always considered to be something totally different.
But new research by Professor Jay Fineberg and graduate student Ilya Svetlizky, at the Hebrew University’s Racah Institute of Physics, has demonstrated that these two seemingly disparate processes of fracture and friction are actually intimately intertwined. The findings create a new paradigm that’s very different from the da Vinci version, and, according to the researchers, give us a new understanding of how earthquakes actually occur.
The study overturns a 500-year-old theory given by Leonardo da Vinci. He described how rough blocks slide over one another, providing the basis for our understanding of friction to this day. The phenomenon of fracture was always considered to be something totally different.
But new research by Professor Jay Fineberg and graduate student Ilya Svetlizky, at the Hebrew University’s Racah Institute of Physics, has demonstrated that these two seemingly disparate processes of fracture and friction are actually intimately intertwined. The findings create a new paradigm that’s very different from the da Vinci version, and, according to the researchers, give us a new understanding of how earthquakes actually occur.
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