The work of the scientists - Prof. Jay Fineberg, head of the Hebrew University’s Racah Institute of Physics; Dr. Gil Cohen; and graduate student Shmuel N. Rubinstein - examines the "waves of detachment" involved in the process of friction. The research was published in an article in the journal Nature entitled "Detachment Fronts and the Onset of Dynamic Friction."

Using near-field optics and recent technological advances in rapid imaging, the Hebrew University researchers observed, for the first time, how three different types of waves govern the onset of friction. These waves, which function within the micron-thick interface between sliding surfaces, move at widely different velocities, from sonic and supersonic and down to slow speeds. The researchers showed that detachment - the actual separation of the points of microcontact between one surface and another that occurs during frictional movement - is governed mainly by the newly discovered, slow-wave phase.

“These findings,” Fineberg told Israel21c, “have relevance for the issue of earthquake measurement and predictions, as well as for other future scientific and industrial applications. Over five percent of losses due to both wear and energy dissipation in industry are due to friction, resulting in the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars a year worldwide.”