Friction & Frictional Electricity

We have developed a device that can measure and image the charge transferred between two surfaces in relative motion. It is described in reviews of Scientific Instruments February 2000. A typical picture of the charge deposited in stick slip motion is shown below. We were motivated to develop this device in order to learn more about the forces between glass and mercury"Picosecond discharges and stick-slip friction at a moving meniscus of mercury on glass" R. Budakian, K. Wninger, R.A. Hiller, S.J. Putterman. Nature (Vol 391) 15 p266-268. Jan 1998 Reprint Image Nature 1998
Figure 1 - Reviews of Scientific Instruments See enlarged Figure 1 - Scientific Instruments, February 2000